REKIHAKU

No.120 A Witness to History

Exported lacquer-ware
made by copying prints of Western copper plate engravings

Figure 1: Makie lacquer-work plaque of a scene of St. Petersburg This plaque closely resembles a plaque dedicated to Catherine II (held in the collection of the Kunstkammer, Russia) by a physician called Stutzel who lived in Dejima in 1787 and the following year, and is thought to have been ordered and produced at the same time.	Figure 2: Makie lacquer-work plaque of scene of St. Petersburg (back side) In the center of the plaque there is an inscription in gold relief written in French that reads "View of Saint Petersburg city looking from the lower reaches of the River Neva to the Winter Palace and the Academy of Sciences", surrounded by branches made of mother-of-pearl inlay.
Figure 3: Megane-e (perspective picture for peep show) picture from a copper plate engraving of a view of St. Petersburg (Chido Museum) This landscape by Mihail Ivanovich Mahaev (1717-1770) was printed and distributed. This is actually back to front compared the original landscape because it was mistakenly printed from the reverse side. It is clear that the plaque was copied from this print and not from the original picture.

Lacquer plaques in maki-e and lacquer plaquettes in maki-e are typical examples of exported lacquer in the latter part of the Edo period.

A "plaque" is a decoration plate that is hung on a wall, and smaller plaques are referred to as "plaquettes". It is usual for rectangular plaques to depict landscapes and war scenes and for round plaques to depict portraits. For a relatively short period from the 1780s through to around 1800 orders for both types were received from Europe, and once they were produced they were exported from Dejima.

Figure 4: Makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Gustav III, 1788 An inscription on the back side reads "Japonia factum 1788" (made in Japan in 1788), making it the oldest plaquette of those that were dated. The original was a copper plate print made in 1773 by Jacob Hilbelf.	Figure 5: Makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Gustav III (back side) Gustav III was a king of Sweden, and this shows the royal symbols of the crest, crown and two lions.
Figure 6: Makie lacquer-work mother-of-pearl inlay plaquette with portrait of Joseph II This is a rare plaquette in that it was made by applying the colored mother-of-pearl inlay technique (technique of application of colors in advance underneath thin shell) for decoration. (Refer to page 5 for original.)	Figure 7: Dreux du Radier Page from "Illustrations of Europe" (L'Europe Illustre) (from the collection of Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris)

Decorations using elaborate maki-e lacquer-work techniques were made using prints of copper plate engravings brought from Europe as the original and by carefully copying the original patterns. A smooth black lacquer surface is achieved by baking lacquer onto a copper plate, and patterns are then applied using gold or silver-gold hira-makie (low-relief lacquer), kanagai (thin gold foil), and tsukegaki (fine-lined lacquer painting followed by a sprinkling of gold powder) techniques. It was an extremely refined style where hatching (technique using fine lines) peculiar to copper plate prints could be substituted by the tsukegaki technique. Even letters in captions on the prints were faithfully copied, showing the astonishing accuracy of the artisans' skills.

Figure 8: Charles VII from L'Europe Illustre (Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris)	Figure 9: Makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Charles VII	Figure 10: Makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Charles VII (back side)
図11Figure 11: Print used as the original for the makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Friedrich II (Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris)	Figure 12: Makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Friedrich II This is unusual for the dense sprinkling of gold powder and the design made using mainly lacquer artwork and mitsuda-e (patterns drawn in oil mixed with pigment). The realistic expression of the facial features is characteristic. Figure 13: Makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Friedrich II (back side) Parts from the rim of the original print have been used for the mother-of-pearl inlay decoration	Figure 13: Makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Friedrich II (back side) Parts from the rim of the original print have been used for the mother-of-pearl inlay decoration on the back side.

It would appear that in the beginning, plaques and plaquettes were custom-made in response to individual requests. However, in light of the considerable number of extant items it is believed that makie lacquer-work plaquette portraits were produced in considerable quantities and then exported in batches. It is recognized that printed editions containing portraits of ancient and modern statesmen and scholars, such as the L'Europe Illustre by Dreux du Radier and published in Paris from 1755 to 1765, were used as originals. One can clearly see from a comparison of plaquette designs and the originals that the portraits, people's names, explanatory captions, and surrounding decorations have been used appropriately for designs on the face and back sides of the plaquettes.

Figure 14: Print which served as the original for the makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Joseph II (Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris) It is interesting how the designs on the original print were divided between the front and back sides of the plaquette.	Figure 15: Makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Joseph II Joseph II was emperor of Austria. His hair is styled in a short braid at the back of the neck and he is drawn with a gold braid running from his right shoulder across his chest. A rectangular plaquette like this one is rare.	Figure 16: Makie lacquer-work plaquette with portrait of Joseph II (back side) Depicted are the eagle of the House of Hapsburg and the royal symbols of a crown, scepter and an orb adorned with a cross.

Kaori Hidaka
Museum Science Department National Museum of Japanese History

＊All items shown which have not been ascribed to a particular collection are held in the Museum's collection.