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

artefact in question, and the methods of embellishing the artefact, emphasising the difficulties of the process. In the British press and other British publications examples of Japanese lacquer art were generally described using adjectives such as "delicate", "elaborate", "perfect", or "consummate".

49 In his chapter introducing Japanese lacquer art,

50 Christopher Dresser asserts that lacquer techniques have reached a level of perfection found nowhere else in Asia. He expresses a high opinion of the lacquer art of the 17

th and 18

th centuries, emphasising the predominant use of gold powder, as well as the delicacy of the "cloud-like" effects and the takamaki-e procedure.

51 "Choice objects in lacquer are about the most recherché of drawing-room ornaments," he writes, praising the perfection and refinement of the working thanks to which they could hold their own in any drawing room. He tells that a few years previously it was possible to acquire old (Edo-era) lacquered objects on the art market relatively cheaply, and that they were so much in demand with Western connoisseurs and the Japanese themselves that they had become real rarities. In one case lacquered objects bought in London were sold on in Japan. In his work Dresser mentions Ritsuô, Zeshin and Shunsai by name, as well as the works of the Rinpa School. He also mentions the characteristic Kamakura-bori,

52 stressing, however, that to European eyes the copies are almost indistinguishable from the original objects. In his work published in 1889,

53 Rein ranks lacquer art above all other Japanese applied arts, since here he perceives the play of fantasy and the virtuosity of craftsmanship to be the most developed. It grieves him that when, following the Meiji reforms, the aristocracy lost its privileges and its wealth, pieces from previously much-prized family trousseaux could be acquired by traders almost for nothing and that many of these pieces found their way into the hands of foreigners. Export orders of the time and the Japanese market itself required more and more lacquer objects (the demand for jinrikishas was especially great). As a result competition on the market was increasingly fierce and, alas, quickly made, cheap work was spreading. Rein considered that the traditional, time-consuming embellishments were dying out, although he also stressed the beneficial effects of participation in world exhibitions, as a result of which the price and quality of objects embellished using the maki-e procedure had again increased. The growing interest in Japanese lacquer objects among art dealers in Paris, London and Berlin must also have had a positive impact. Very many of the lacquer objects for export were made in the Tokyo and Yokohama areas. It was mainly products from workshops at Shizuoka, Wakamatsu, Yonezawa, and Niigata that came to Yokohama. Of these centres Shizuoka was pre-eminent. Contemporaries described the workings of the Yokohama lacquer trade at this time in the Yokohama seikö meiyökan - the Yokohama Success and Honour Directory -, a source for the period: Imamura Naonosuke, dealer in lacquer objects. Sunahariya, No. 10, District 1, Honmachi Mr. Imamura, who in accordance with the fashion of the time has proved his proficiency in the planning of coloration [design], heads the famous Sunahariya lacquer dealers. He comes from Shizuoka province, where he also sold lacquer objects. Year by year he expanded his business, and the newly opened territory held out even more promise. Hence, in the thirteenth year of Meiji [1880] he moved to Yokohama, later opening his business in its present place. He has sold home-produced Japanese products of many different kinds, and has - besides acknowledging the success of this art - recently also sold imported foreign products, in accordance with the needs of both foreign and domestic customers.

54 Fukui Tamijirö, dealer in lacquer objects, Fukuiya, No. 32, District 2, Honmachi In the sixth year of Ansei [1859], from the time the port was opened, the bakufu [Shogunate] supported the export of lacquer objects, providing land on which Shizuoka traders could open businesses. However, the changeover was a little rapid and many worries arose, with the result that to begin with few of the Shogunate expectations were met. Under the name of Yairiya Kinjürö (who provided guaran-