A RARE GILT-COPPER-MOUNTED SHELL-INLAID NANBAN LACQUER CABINET Momoyama period (1573-1615), late 16th/early 17th centuryA RARE GILT-COPPER-MOUNTED SHELL-INLAID NANBAN LACQUER CABINETMomoyama period (1573-1615), late 16th/early 17th centuryEmbellished predominantly in gold hiramaki-e lacquer and inlaid with shell, the front, single-hinged door decorated on the front with a rabbit among fruiting tachibana orange enclosed within an elaborately-lobed cartouche, the top surface with asagao (morning glory) and other wild flowers growing over a pond within a lobed cartouche, the right side with a profusion of overlapping maple branches and kikyo (Chinese bellflowers), the left side with abundant branches of sakura (cherry blossoms), the back with typical meandering branches of clematis and kuzu (kudzu) vine; the hinged door fitted with a copper lock plate, opening downwards to reveal an interior panel decorated with scrolling stems of tsubaki (camellia), and nine drawers of four sizes decorated with assorted matching floral designs including fruiting tachibana orange, maple leaves floating on a stream, kiri (paulownia) and a profusion of foliage, all arranged horizontally in four rows surrounding a central, deeper drawer, each drawer fitted with a gilt-copper chrysanthemum knop, all framed by narrow thin bands of gold lacquer zig-zag motifs, the sides with two copper-gilt carrying handles, the corners applied with gilt-copper fittings engraved with stylised leaves, the underside undecorated. 31.2cm x 41.5cm x 28cm (12¼in x 16 5/16in x 11in).Crafted in Kyoto's lacquer workshops alongside quite different wares intended for elite Japanese clients, these kinds of Nanban coffers and cabinets decorated in gold hiramaki-e and shell were among the earliest Japanese artefacts to reach Asian and European markets, starting two or three decades after the first landfall by Portuguese adventurers in the mid-sixteenth century. Celebrated today for their lavish, innovative technique and dense ornamentation (inspired in part by wares from other parts of Asia), such pieces brought the Japanese genius for design to global attention and ensured that Japan would be synonymous with 'lacquer' until the present day.Traded along newly-opened global sea routes, Japanese lacquers offered Asian and European monarchs alike a distant glimpse of the splendours of the Momoyama age, when great warlords like Toyotomi Hideyoshi (15371598) took overall control of the country. Hideyoshi and his rivals, vassals and successors ordered lavish use of goldnot just on lacquer wares but on folding screens and wall-painting ensembles as wellto brighten the brooding interior spaces of their magnificent palaces and castles.For a discussion about Nanban fall-front cabinets of this type, illustrating comparative examples, see O. Impey and C.J.A. Jrg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580-1850, Amsterdam, 2005, pp.122-124.