

An exceptional Japanese carved red chõshitsu lacquer telescope. In Japan, unlike in China, carved lacquer ware was rare. It involves carving patterns through layers of lacquer. This small telescope, with a chrysanthemum design, extending parts black lacquered paper-maché with wooden eye-piece, is reminiscent of the Chinese carved lacquer technique much admired, but only occasionally imitated in Japan. Spectacles arrived in Japan in the mid-16th century mainly through Jesuits from China.

Japan, Edo Period, late 18th century

_Edo-period, Japan, 1650-1700_ _L. 19 x W. 6 x H. 8.5 cm_ Provenance: - Auctioned at Christie’s in 1996 - Similar box illustrated in Oliver Impey & Christiaan Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580-1850, Hotei Publishing, Leiden, 2005, p. 115