FINAL PROJECT – MUSEUM GUIDE

PR Kit for ACM Museum’s Latest Exhibition: Treasures of Asia, Caskets and Cabinets of Trade.

This project allowed for us to create something that was very new and exciting for the museum that was a Press Release kit or Event door gift for the rich patrons invited to the Exhibition Opening. We wanted to mimic the idea of how the rich patrons in the past would have received these caskets and cabinets of trade as gifts. Hence the PR kit came in a decorated motif box form that carried the “treasure” of the Museum Guide curated for the exhibition.

Reflection:

Overall, I felt that this final project was such a refreshing take on Art History and I have truly enjoyed the process of creating it. Instead of having to write thousand word essays, we could truly put what we are learning in art school and use it as a means to convey what we have learnt and researched about in Art History class to more purposeful use. In this case, we made a museum guide for our chosen target audience.

The collaborative work with my schoolmates from other majors were also very helpful as I could not have managed certain aspects without them. Such as the detailed illustrations, which took for my group mate in Animation to draw out. It turned out even better than I could have imagined so I was very appreciative for this chance for collaborative effort. It also gave an insight to how future collaborative works in a working environment would be like and I thought this final project really was unique in terms of how it made that possible.

This project is the epitome of Art History made fun (and practical as well)!

Week 10 Contextual Analysis Of Chosen Object

Cabinet. Japan, late 16th or 17th century. Wood, lacquer, gold, copper, mother-of-pearl. 2014-00941

 

Contextual Analysis

“Lacquered furniture was produced in Japan for Europe and European ports in Asia. It was decorated in the so-called namban (“barbarians” from the south) style. In the late 16th and 17th centuries, the word namban was applied to all foreigners except Chinese and Koreans. The style is associated with depictions of foreigners, or objects made in European shapes.”

– Extract from ACM Website

 

 

 

What is lacquer?

Lacquer is the gummy sap of the Japanese tree Urushi, otherwise known as Rhu Verniciflua, which is of a milky gray colour. This sap is usually painted onto wood as it dries down to a shiny, durable, and binding finish that allows for the item to last over long periods of time. Dried lacquer is liquid-resistant, so not only does it make furniture shine, it also preserves fragile materials.

 

 

Maki-e Technique

This lacquered cabinet is made using the technique ‘Maki-e’. What it essentially translates to is ‘sprinkled pictures’. Usually, these maki-e decorations are painted with lacquer on the surface of the item and then sprinkled with gold or other metallic dust. This created a beautiful effect that captivated the attention of missionaries who commissioned to use the technique for items such as picture frames and bible stands for churches.

This shows there was a link between the religion Christianity and lacquered Japanese homewares, which was definitely there during the Momoyama Period in Japan (early 16th century) where Catholic missionaries and traders came to Japan.

 

European traders

This cabinet however is not a native design by the Japanese. The Portuguese were exceptionally dominant in the trade in early 16th century, and they had many ships departing all over the world by the 17th century. It is no wonder that the beauty of lacquered furniture enchanted the attention of Portuguese traders and also the Spanish traders.  They wanted to bring back these exotic objects back to Europe for business. Hence, they also introduced these Western-style shapes by ordering them, and this lacquered cabinet is a good example of them. Another was the coffee cup even though the Japanese did not drink coffee at that time period.

 

Introduction of mother-of-pearl to lacquered objects were also not native to the Japanese traditional lacquered items, but the Spanish and Portuguese wanted their objects to be more luxurious. Hence, they requested craftspeople to lay mother-of-pearl on the maki-e objects and also mark up the prices of the objects in Europe. This technique is known as raden in Japanese.

 

However, this raden method was not original to Europe either. As the Portuguese have many trade routes within Asia, they probably picked up this style from India where this use of mother-of-pearl technique was particularly common especially in Gujarat.

 

These foreign styled objects were soon known to the Japanese as ‘namban’ style, which translates to ‘Southern Barbarian’, which was a term used to refer to these ‘foreigners’ from Europe. While the techniques used in the making of these lacquered cabinets and boxes were adopted from Europe and India, the patterns found atop this cabinet were very much by the Japanese craftsmen. The pictures depict some flowers made with precious materials like metal, gold and copper. This particular motif on the top of the cabinet is very much Japanese as they enjoyed incorporating themes such as the four season which often included flowers, plants and trees in their designs. The inlay work of the mother-of-shell pieces are also commonly used by Japanese craftspeople and it is the ‘shippo’ or ‘cash’ pattern of interlocking circles.

 

However, if you zoom into the details of the intricate keyholes and metal corners of the cabinet, you’d notice the baroque designs that was probably a European motif that was requested to have been put onto the object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revised Final Project Proposal – Team 2

Link to our revised proposal!

PROPOSAL

 

Bibliography:

Ayesha:

Biedermann, Zoltan. ‘Diplomatic Ivories: Sri Lankan Caskets and the Portuguese-Asian Exchange in the
Sixteenth Century,’ in Global Gifts: The Material Culture of Diplomacy in Early Modern Eurasia, ed.
Zoltán Biedermann, Anne Gerritsen and Giorgio Riello. New York: Cambridge University Press,
Forthcoming. Accessed 10 October 2018. https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=KJNADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=biederman+zoltan+ivories&source=bl&ots=va01sK_GWW&sig=mo0WlYm_tPkau77_HW06ZPdXYg8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6o6HyzYTeAhUIqY8KHYdoCoYQ6AEwA3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=biederman%20zoltan%20ivories&f=false

Strathern, Alan. “Theoretical Approaches to Sri Lankan History and the Early Portuguese Period.” Modern Asian Studies 38, no. 1 (2004): 191-226. Accessed 10 October 2018. http://www.jstor.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/stable/3876500.

Meegama, Sujatha Arundathi. “The Local and the Global: The Multiple Visual Worlds of Ivory Carvers in Early Modern Sri Lanka.” In Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History, edited by Biedermann Zoltán and Strathern Alan, 113-40. London: UCL Press, 2017. Accessed 10 October 2018. http://www.jstor.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/stable/j.ctt1qnw8bs.11.

Chong, Alan. “Sri Lankan Ivories for the Dutch and Portuguese,” JHNA 5:2 (Summer 2013),
DOI:10.5092/jhna.2013.5.2.16. Accessed 10 October 2018.
https://jhna.org/articles/sri-lankan-ivories-for-dutch-portuguese/

Silva, K. M. de, Howard A. Wilson, S. U. Deraniyagala, Senake Bandaranayake, Roland Silva, Nimal de Silva, Ismeth Raheem, Diran Kavork Dohanian, Albert Dharmasiri, Raja de Silva, Siri Gunasinghe, Robert Elgood, R. C. C. Fynes, Brendan Lynch, Bob Simpson, Sirinimal Lakdusinghe, K. Hemantha Jayatilleke, L. K. Karunaratne, and W. Thelma T. P. Gunawardane. 2003 “Sri Lanka.” Grove Art Online. Accessed 10 October 2018.  http:////www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000080711.

 

Lydia:

Roots. Mother-of-Pearl Casket.
Accessed 19 October 2018.

https://roots.sg/learn/collections/listing/1064555

J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.361, p.304.
Accessed 19 October 2018.
https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-mother-of-pearl-inlaid-casket-mxd255/

Truong, Alain R. A rare Indian mother-of-pearl and red lac casket, 17th Century, Gujarat, India.
Accessed 19 October 2018.
http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2017/07/29/35517873.html

Finch and Co.: Antiques & Works of Art. Mughal Indian Gujarati Mother-of-Pearl Casket.
Accessed 19 October 2018.
http://www.finch-and-co.co.uk/archive/antiquities/d/mughal-indian-gujarati-mother-of-pearl-casket/310847

V&A. Casket.
Accessed 19 October 2018.
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17094/casket-unknown/

 

Naomi:

Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection

By Andrew Pekarik, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)

https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Frw1vEmyHSMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=japanese+lacquer&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiT_42Cj_zdAhUJuY8KHdY6BPgQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=japanese%20lacquer&f=false

Japanese Studio Crafts: Tradition and the Avant-garde

By Rupert Faulkner

https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=zdLJ0NZpd74C&pg=PA109&dq=japanese+lacquer&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwihncjKkfzdAhXKtI8KHbjMAEQ4ChDoAQg_MAQ#v=onepage&q=japanese%20lacquer&f=false

Japanese Lacquer by N. H. N. Mody

Japanese Lacquer-Ware Source: The Art Journal (1875-1887), New Series, Vol. 3 (1877), p. 200

 

Zhang Xuan (Vincent):

https://www.lrhsd.org/domain/31

East Asian Lacquer. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.kaikodo.com/index.php/past_exhibition/detail/the_immortal_past/518

https://roots.sg/Roots/learn/collections/listing/1276421

Garner, H. (2011, September 7). A Group of Chinese Lacquers with Basketry Panels. Retrieved October 19, 2018, from

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20110978?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Watt, J. C., & Ford, B. B. (1991). East Asian lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=RXOrZUlF_OoC&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=Lacquer+box+with+mother-of-pearl+inlay+and+basketry+panels&source=bl&ots=xINzDQZI6o&sig=TS0IjodqVn_pHGgY5K46GeH17fM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjC5oWWn5LeAhXTEHIKHUiGBkQQ6AEwCnoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=Lacquer%20box%20with%20mother-of-pearl%20inlay%20and%20basketry%20panels&f=false

 

Week 9: Free Writing Of Chosen Object

Cabinet. Japan, late 16th or 17th century. Wood, lacquer, gold, copper, mother-of-pearl. 2014-00941

Lacquered furniture was produced in Japan for Europe and European ports in Asia. It was decorated in the so-called namban (“barbarians” from the south) style. In the late 16th and 17th centuries, the word namban was applied to all foreigners except Chinese and Koreans. The style is associated with depictions of foreigners, or objects made in European shapes.

 

Visual Analysis:

The object that is displayed is a wooden cabinet, from Japan. It is a medium sized box, with eight drawers or compartments, and it seems easily handled and carried by one man. What is special about this cabinet is the reflective coating known as lacquer that gives the wood its shine. Lacquer is a material that is renowned to Japan, back in those days. Lacquered furniture was one of the most prized Japanese exports to Europe. The cabinet is very geometric in shape, from its cubic form, its rectangular drawers, and decorative patterns all over. This pattern could be an indication of an adopted style and could give us a hint as to the merchant countries who imported these furniture items. As we know that lacquered furniture exported from Japan are very popular and precious in Europe, we can speculate that these would be cabinets for wealthy and royal families.

The cabinet is also embellished with other materials as well, such as gold, copper and mother-of-pearl ­– giving another dimension to its shine and reflective details. This provides the patterns of the cabinets as well, which are repetitive decorative four petal flowers, as well as a checkered trim around the edges. The top of the box has a middle frame that is more ornate, seemingly with organically shaped flowers of gold, copper and mother-of-pearl. The materials used are evidently very precious and expensive, which goes to show the value of the item. As it is handmade, the precision it takes to cut out the individual pieces of mother-of-pearl pieces and place them on the box in such an organised manner is no easy feat. This goes to prove the painstaking efforts it takes to embellish this box, adding to the exquisiteness of the item. This would go to also hint that perhaps it was used as gifts from one royal family to another, or as diplomatic presents. It also suggests that these were probably not really mass produced for just anyone to own but made exclusively when an “order” is made.

There are copper metal corners and handles around the cabinet as well, making the box very sturdy. The metal also forms the keyholes of the eight compartments of the cabinets. Upon closer inspection, the details on these metal features are particularly ornamented, with minute carvings and the keyholes are carved in the shape of a crest (with exception to the one right in the middle). The crest could be a family crest that the cabinet was built for. The drawers of the cabinet are relatively shallow and of different sizes. It reminds me of a storage organiser for jewelry, with the different drawer sizes used to store various types of jewelry such as necklaces, rings, bangles and bracelets. The drawer that stands out to me the most is the one in the middle, as it is the one that is the most unique out of all of them. The keyhole is also different as it is not in the shape of the crest, but rather a semicircle. The way the wood is carved underneath the metal plate is also special, with two “pillars” framing a deeper carved area in the middle. It is reminiscent of a doorway arch, and perhaps that is what it is meant to symbolise and possibly the origins of the design. It could indicate the style of doorways in the European counties that it was exported to as well.

What intrigues me are the compartments in this cabinet, as the drawers lies perfectly flat against the surface of the box, there is no way of one opening the box with just their fingers alone. A key would always be needed to open each drawer, and hence to close them up properly would also require the key to be turned to lock it up. This means that the drawers would not be able to be opened both or three or more at once. I would deduce that what this cabinet holds in each compartment must be of extreme high value, such as exquisite jewelry, heirlooms, or perhaps even family secrets and treasures. This gives us an insight to exactly how important and wealthy and regal the user of this cabinet is. The metal handles on the side of the cabinet also suggests that it is an item that is portable and transportable.

 

Many facets of this object certainly goes to prove the value and worth of it and it proposes the patrons who uses this object as well. More importantly, it also goes to prove the craftsmanship of the Japanese back in the days due to the intricacy of the details and decadent materials used.