- Cabinets & Chests
- A RARE MID 18TH CENTURY JAPANNED LACQUER CABINET
A RARE MID 18TH CENTURY JAPANNED LACQUER CABINET
A RARE MID 18TH CENTURY JAPANNED LACQUER CABINET
England, circa 1760
A fine mid-eighteenth century Japanned lacquer cabinet, with two doors revealing an interior fitted with eleven drawers with ring handles, all decorated with naturalistic scenes including fishermen and rural life. Retaining the original mid-eighteenth century stand, also with comparable chinoiserie decoration and X form stretcher with central pierced quatrefoil.
Height 161.00cm
Width 98.00cm
Depth 51.00cm
The art of 18th-century Japanning was a European practise that sought to imitate Japanese lacquerware and became a method of emulating the aesthetics of East Asia within the home. The term originates from the late 17th century as the opening of trade routes in the East triggered an interest in Chinese and Japanese fashions in Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands. It’s popularity reflected this era of imperial ambition when the West was fascinated by the exoticism of the East and saw the rise of an orientalist attitude. During this time, Europe’s demand for lacquerware began to grow and The East India Company's importation of lacquered objects and screens created a desire for larger, more practical items with similar decorative finishes.
To replicate the appearance of oriental lacquerwork, European cabinet-makers turned to John Stalker and George Parker's 1688 ‘A Treatise of Japaning and Varnishing: Being a Compleat Discovery of Those Arts’. This book contained formulas for creating and applying lacquers as well as various chinoiserie illustrations for readers to copy and modify, having made a concerted effort to reference designs on Chinese porcelain and textiles. European japanning differed from traditional East Asian lacquer work which used sap from the Toxicodendron vernicifluum tree (also known as the Chinese lacquer tree), which is not indigenous to the West. Instead, japanned furniture in Europe and North America uses resin-based varnishes, similar to Shellac. These varnishes were used alongside molten asphalt, drying oils and turpentine in thin layers upon materials like wood, metal or papier-mâché, which were then polished to a high gloss to resemble the finish of imported lacquer. As the base colour was typically a rich black, the chinoiserie designs applied on top were predominantly gold to contrast with the base, although red, green and blue were also colours commonly used as the base varnish. By the mid-18th century examples of japanning could be seen on items of fine furniture, trays and all manner of chests and boxes throughout the manor houses and country seats of England. Indeed by 1760 the fashion had become so popular that more than 20 firms operated professionally in Wolverhampton alone. Soon commercial companies were applying the art of japanning to a vast range of household objects and demand for their products remained popular throughout the Victorian era, with some firms continuing production well into the 20th century.
England, circa 1760
A fine mid-eighteenth century Japanned lacquer cabinet, with two doors revealing an interior fitted with eleven drawers with ring handles, all decorated with naturalistic scenes including fishermen and rural life. Retaining the original mid-eighteenth century stand, also with comparable chinoiserie decoration and X form stretcher with central pierced quatrefoil.
Height 161.00cm
Width 98.00cm
Depth 51.00cm
The art of 18th-century Japanning was a European practise that sought to imitate Japanese lacquerware and became a method of emulating the aesthetics of East Asia within the home. The term originates from the late 17th century as the opening of trade routes in the East triggered an interest in Chinese and Japanese fashions in Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands. It’s popularity reflected this era of imperial ambition when the West was fascinated by the exoticism of the East and saw the rise of an orientalist attitude. During this time, Europe’s demand for lacquerware began to grow and The East India Company's importation of lacquered objects and screens created a desire for larger, more practical items with similar decorative finishes.
To replicate the appearance of oriental lacquerwork, European cabinet-makers turned to John Stalker and George Parker's 1688 ‘A Treatise of Japaning and Varnishing: Being a Compleat Discovery of Those Arts’. This book contained formulas for creating and applying lacquers as well as various chinoiserie illustrations for readers to copy and modify, having made a concerted effort to reference designs on Chinese porcelain and textiles. European japanning differed from traditional East Asian lacquer work which used sap from the Toxicodendron vernicifluum tree (also known as the Chinese lacquer tree), which is not indigenous to the West. Instead, japanned furniture in Europe and North America uses resin-based varnishes, similar to Shellac. These varnishes were used alongside molten asphalt, drying oils and turpentine in thin layers upon materials like wood, metal or papier-mâché, which were then polished to a high gloss to resemble the finish of imported lacquer. As the base colour was typically a rich black, the chinoiserie designs applied on top were predominantly gold to contrast with the base, although red, green and blue were also colours commonly used as the base varnish. By the mid-18th century examples of japanning could be seen on items of fine furniture, trays and all manner of chests and boxes throughout the manor houses and country seats of England. Indeed by 1760 the fashion had become so popular that more than 20 firms operated professionally in Wolverhampton alone. Soon commercial companies were applying the art of japanning to a vast range of household objects and demand for their products remained popular throughout the Victorian era, with some firms continuing production well into the 20th century.