Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 21. (Budapest, 2002)

Monika BINCSIK: The Trade in Japanese Art during the Meiji Period with Special Reference to Lacquer, as Mirrored in the Collections at the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, Budapest

Yamashiroya shop, Yamashiroya's goods were perhaps better, although its business policy was insufficiently striking [daring]. Samurai shökai is [in this] better than anyone.

45 (111. 19) The Fukuda ivory goods concern on Benten (3 chôme Benten döri) advertised its wares using a shop-sign of striking appearance. (Ills. 20, 21) The Toyama art dealer's shop, similarly on Benten döri, flew both the Japanese and the American flag from its doorway. (111. 22) The trade in lacquered goods in Yokohama One of the most popular and sought-after art works was the lacquered artefact. How did foreigners see Japanese lacquer art at this time, when it was contending with very many difficulties? After the ending of the Tokugawa shogunate, lacquer artists in the hire of feudal lords (daimyo) lost their patrons and their commissions. The abolition of the feudal system of landownership, the ban on the wearing of swords, the measures restricting the use of gold, political tensions, new trade laws and the difficult economic situation together caused unemployment and indebtedness among lacquer artists, especially the maki-e craftsmen. Also, less and less lacquer as raw material was available to them. The gradual development of transportation, however, assisted the trade in raw materials, as well as the marketing of finished products and the exchange of information. The increasing export of lacquered goods from the harbours opened to foreigners - along with the production of works for world exhibitions and industrial exhibitions in Japan itself - played a part in stimulating the domestic market as well. Unfortunately, though, large orders for merchandise calculated to satisfy the tastes of foreigners also resulted in a deterioration of quality. Artefacts were made with forms and functions never seen before, while in the motifs there appeared "special, Japanese-type" embellishments intended to accord with impressions formed of Japan by foreigners. Even so, as early as the Paris World Exhibition of 1878 works of excellent quality could be seen that also reflected Western taste.

46 By the 1890s Osaka had become the centre of the trade in imported lacquer as a raw material, and from the 1880s onwards various unions of lacquer artists grew up and gradually strengthened their position, regarding as one of their important tasks the winning of markets abroad. In very many art dealer's shops antiques and contemporary works could be found side by side, and in this way old artworks appearing on the art market also inspired the lacquer art of the time, with many copies of famous old artefacts being made. (Of the abovementioned art dealers, Azuma, Samurai shökai, Arthur & Bond, and Kuhn & Komor all carried old and new lacquered pieces.) At the Vienna World Exhibition of 1873 old and contemporary creations were displayed alongside each other

47 Of course, the work of the "Kiriu kosho kuaisha" firm also contributed to the success of Japanese lacquered articles in Europe.

48 Lacquer art gradually won back its old esteem, and a lacquer department opened at Tokyo's Academy of Arts, established in 1887. Shibata Zeshin, Itchö Kawanobe, Ikeda Taishin, and Shirayama Shösai were all awarded the prestigious title "Court Artist" {Teishitsu gigeiin) and took part in the embellishment of the imperial palace. The Society for Japanese Art {Nihon Bijutsu Kyökai) was formed, the Society of Japanese Lacquer Art {Nihon Shikkö Kai, 1889) set up and collections of lacquer work founded at Japanese museums. These were just a few of the important developments in the highly complex history of Japanese lacquer art during the late 19

th century. In a lecture delivered in Budapest in 1884 Attila Szemere wrote the following about Japanese lacquer art: "The biggest battles between Japanese and European art lovers normally break out over the matter of lacquer objects. Each side is capable of the greatest improvidence when it is a question of a splendid gold lacquer work or a finely chased red one. [...] From the raw material itself to the consummate use of it every merit is Japan's. In this it has learnt nothing from others, but nor has it taught anyone either." In his lecture Szemére explained the method of making the lacquer, its clarification, its application to the surface of the