Trade with Portugal, Spain, Holland, and such Southeast Asian areas as the Philippines and Java flourished and to a certain degree furnished new art motifs and lacquer techniques. Relations with China were maintained, and, as a result of Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea in the last decade of the 16th century, new techniques of pottery and mother-of-pearl work were imported from that country.
Hideyoshi himself was a great patron of the arts and the tea and incense ceremonies. He introduced the custom of rewarding patriotic deeds with gifts of lacquer which were highly valued. This custom continued with several other shoguns. With the suppression of Buddhism, art became more and more secular. The end of feudal warfare brought about increased prosperity through foreign trade as well as increased trade and communication among the provinces. The local daimyo lived in luxury and patronized the fine arts, including the tea and incense ceremonies. They surrounded themselves with fine artists and maintained large castles which were resplendent with fine paintings, screens, lacquer, and metalwork. The castle towns subsequently became thriving commercial areas with the beginning of the new merchant class, which similarly began to patronize the arts, especially in the following Edo period. Lacquer ware, however, was still done mainly in Kyoto, rather than in the provinces, as would happen in the following Edo period.
Lacquer art and artists were patronized by the shogunate, especially Hideyoshi. There developed a gradually increased range of utilitarian articles, including personal articles along with household furniture and utensils, which were appropriate for lacquer decoration. Among such articles were meal trays with legs, eating and drinking bowls, cups and jars, tables, chairs, lanterns, cabinets, chests, shelves, etc. Hideyoshi employed the lacquerers Seiami and Hidetsugu II for making lacquered tea boxes. He also awarded a diploma of merit to the lacquerer Nagakiyo and commissioned his son Choan to supply lacquer articles for the enthronement ceremony of the emperor. Both of these men were members of the famous Koami lacquer family. Examples of fine lacquer work of this era include that done for the Tsukubusuma Shrine, the Sambo-in temple and the Kodai-ji temple in Kyoto, which was the mausoleum built by Hideyoshi's widow. The makie work of this period is also known as Kodai-ji makie. This period saw the beginnings and development of the inro, the zushi (miniature portable shrine), and the natsume tea jar, all of which added great stimulus to miniature lacquer art.
Technically flat makie was mainly employed. Nashiji was used not only for background but also in the pictorial design, known as picture aventurine (e-nashiji). Untouched sprinkle (maki-hanashi) was also in favor giving a more sparkling effect, as well as relief makie sprinkled with gold dust on the raised design (maki-abise). Kana-gai and hari-bori (needle carving) continued to be used, and the older Chinese lead-oxide-oil technique (mitsuda-e) was repopularized from the influence of Chinese lacquer and oil paintings. New methods were also being employed. These included kimetsuke makie, or relief makie, the design being ornamented with flakes of gold or silver, a development of the older byomon technique. Gyobu nashiji (named after Gyobu Taro) became popular. Lacquer wares from Siam (kimma-de) and the South Sea Islands (koma-de) were imported and adopted by the Japanese artisans. In the former the designs were carved out and filled with colored lacquer, and in the latter the lacquer designs consisted of circles of different colors. Chinkin-bori (sunken gold carving) technique became popular, especially in Nagasaki, during the Kyoho era (1716-35) and Wakasa-nuri (marbled color effect) began to be used in imitation of the Chinese Zonsei lacquer. Artistically, Japanese lacquer ware by the end of this era and in the early part of the Edo period reached its zenith. Lacquer during this period was often called jokei-in after an appellation of the shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. Designs, techniques, backgrounds, ornamentation, and subject matter became typically Japanese. Technique, especially in makie, had become more varied, detailed, and perfected. The various methods were combined to obtain optimum artistic effect. Pictorial designs were relatively purposely simple and proportionately combined with artistic ornamentation. Pictorially the designs of the Momoyama period consisted mainly of autumnal plants, chrysanthemums, and paulownia designs in the Yamato-e style. By the end of this period and the beginning of the Edo period, there was a tendency for stronger more abstract impressionistic effects under the Koetsu and Korin schools. Artistically entire surfaces, large or small, were treated as a whole. Designs were gracefully and asymmetrically dispersed, flowing over the edges and rims of the lacquered surfaces. The designs were varied, each surface having different but blending patterns and ornamentation. Varied diapers and ornamental powderings including family crests (mon) were used to enhance the entire pictorial effect. Occasionally, as previously noted, contrasting pictorial halves using a diagonal or zigzag line were designed as in the kimono of the day. Relatively uncommon was export lacquer ware produced under European guidance of designs appealing to the Western taste and including such articles as backgammon boards and Catholic religious boxes.
Edo Period (1615-1868)
The Edo period was marked by over 250 years of peace resulting from the firm control of the Tokugawa shogunate over the local daimyo, the imperial house, and the Buddhist sects, combined with the virtual isolation of Japan from the rest of the world, with the exception of China. The arts in the first half of this period continued to flourish under the patronage of the local daimyo and the shogunate in Edo. However, toward the end of the Edo period, because of the increase in commerce and industry, all types of art became popularized and secularized under the patronage of the newly rising wealthy merchant class (chonin) as well as the common folk.
With the transfer of the shogunate to Edo, lacquer artists were attracted to Edo from Kyoto. Many lacquer artists were summoned by the shogunate, including Koami Naganori of Kyoto. The shogunate even established a lacquer workshop, calling it okoyaba, or small workshop. Edo lacquer ware ultimately surpassed that of Kyoto, both of which stressed elaborate makie techniques. The lavish use of gold and makie with technical perfection continued. Concurrently there developed the Koetsu, Korin, and Ritsuo schools, which stressed stronger, simpler, impressionistic, and more artistic lacquer ware. Here the artistic effect was obtained by the use of relatively large encrustations of lead, pewter, shell, or porcelain. Excessive ornamentation and minute, photographic, crowded, pictorial detail gave way to simple effective suggestibility. During the early 19th century court lacquer was stimulated by Tokugawa Ienari (1773-1841), who stressed lacquer work associated with popular holidays, such as the miniature furniture used during the Boys' and Girls' Festival days. During this period also, lacquer design was influenced by the realistic nature-loving aspect of the Maruyama (Okyo) school of painting. By the mid-19th century, designs adapted from the colorful ukijo-e school of painting and woodblock prints were used on lacquer work, including scenes of Hiroshige's Fifty-three Stations on the Tokaido (Fig. 151) along with pictures of typical ukiyo-e women and Kabuki actors with their resplendent colorful robes (Fig. 43). Many of the later generations of famous lacquer families—for example, the Shunsho—copied these designs, but these works can hardly be compared with the subtle, toned-down togidashi lacquer work of the earlier artists of the Shunsho family. However, along with these trends many lacquer artists still preferred and copied the more quiet, subtle designs of famous artists of their times, such as Hoitsu (Figs. 21, 223, 233).
Ultimately technical detail and perfection became paramount for the ornate, luxurious taste of the newly established merchant class. Encrustation became minute and of innumerable types of materials heavily spread over the entire ornamental surface. Tinted ivory, mother-of-pearl, malachite, coral, soapstone, gold, silver, metallic alloys, all minutely carved, were inlaid in the lacquer base. This technique of heavily encrusted work of minute detail, originated in the early 19th century, was known collectively as Shibayama work. The works were usually in poor artistic taste done for commercial purposes by special workers rather than by true lacquer artists and were usually unsigned. By the late 19th century such articles were commonly made specifically for export purposes. It is through such export items, including commercially exported netsuke, okimono, porcelains, and late woodblock prints that Japanese art has been often unfairly and falsely judged. It should be noted, however, that some excellent examples of Shibayama work exist (Figs. 49, 65, 129).
With the patronization of the arts in the provinces through the local daimyo, and their increasing popularity among the plebeian class, the handicrafts, including lacquer ware, rapidly developed in the local provinces.
