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A rare export lacquer portable writing box By the Sasaya company, late 18th century image 1
A rare export lacquer portable writing box By the Sasaya company, late 18th century image 2
A rare export lacquer portable writing box By the Sasaya company, late 18th century image 3
A rare export lacquer portable writing box By the Sasaya company, late 18th century image 4
Lot 177

A rare export lacquer portable writing box
By the Sasaya company, late 18th century

Fine Japanese Art
11 November 2010, 14:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £3,600 inc. premium

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A rare export lacquer portable writing box

By the Sasaya company, late 18th century
Of rectangular form and designed in English late Georgian shape, gold lacquered on the black ground with a panel showing Dutch ships in harbour, above a coat-of-arms the inscription 'DE REEDE VAN BATAVIA', the sides inlaid with foliate sprigs in mother-of-pearl, the interior fitted with compartments for writing implements, one containg a glass inkwell beneath a hinged cover inscribed 'LAKWERKER SASAYA'. 47cm X 27cm X 21cm (18½in x 10 5/8in x 8¼in).

Footnotes

オランダ船図蒔絵螺鈿文具セット　Sasaya製　18世紀後期

For a writing box of similar form in the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass., see Oliver Impey and Christian Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer, 1580-1850, p.325, no.636.

The identity of Sasaya is unknown. It has been suggested that he was an individual lacquerer, a member of a workshop, a merchant or a wholesaler. Various lacquered wares have been recorded with late 18th century dates, often with scenes taken from Dutch prints, as seen on the present example. It is probable that the scene on the cover is derived from the series of engravings by Fredrik Murat, published in 1782.

Johan Frederik Baron van Reede tot de Parkeler (for whom the box was presumably made) was a Dutch nobleman with a strong taste for Japanese artifacts who commissioned a well-known group of plaques and boxes for his own private use and probably as gifts.

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