Book rest: MAR.O.168 & A-1912

Maker(s)

Unknown

Entities

• Book rest
• Drawer (furniture component)

Categories

• Lacquer

Description

Book rest, lacquer with silver metal mounts and handle. The book rest sits on a central upright attached to a rectangular base with a drawer (A) and is decorated in gold and silver. The nashiji (shimmering spangles) ground is decorated in takamakie (high-relief sprinkled design), hiramakie (low-relief sprinkled design) and heidatsu (cut sheet-gold or, as in this example, sheet-silver applied to a lacquer base) on the book rest with a prunus tree beside a stream with clouds overhead, and on the rectangular base with bamboo and prunus beside a stream. The edges are plain gold; the sides are decorated with formal flowers and scrolling foliage. The front of the drawer is similarly decorated and has a silver metal drop handle attached to three finely tooled flower heads. The central upright is decorated with scrolling flowers and fitted top and bottom with silver metal mounts which are finely tooled with scrolling foliage. The underside of the book rest, the interior of the drawer and the box are nashiji. The base is nashiji and there is a removable circular wooden plug crudely painted in gold, inserted in the centre of the base.

Legal notes

C.B. Marlay Bequest

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1912) by Marlay, Charles Brinsley

Dating

Edo Period (1615-1868)#
19th Century
Production date: circa AD 1820