An Multimedia Japanese Comb

#Gold #japaneselacquer #multimedia 

Gold lacquer wasn't always applied only to black backgrounds on wood. On this antique haircomb we see gold lacquer and shell combined. Whereas our ancestors would have valued brooches and hat pins or necklaces for a Japanese woman who could afford it haircombs usually  took the place of jewellery.

Note also how the use of the shell for wings and flowers contrasts with the gold leaves.

Zeshin Lacquer "Painting"

An Interesting piece for its mixture of techniques. The background seems to be a mixture of gold painted on plus a sprinkled layer and theres maki-e in the foreground but some mixture of lacquer with other pigments On the peak and pine branches.

The view is  the Tagonoura Beach Pines facing towards Fujisan

Chinese Gold Lacquer Box

The Japanese did not invnet using gold in Lacquer. Oh they refined its usage and technique in all sorts of beuatiful and wonderful ways developing maki-e and other techniques but while Chinese lacquer ware is best known for carved lacquet or inlay work with shell they did have a gold "engraving" technique.

This is a Ming Dynasty Yongle Reign Sutra Box 

and oh those poets ...

Another #Yoshitoshi print this time depicting Fujiwara no Kinto a famous Heian poet offering an unseen person a branch of plum blossom on a fan. This is a depiction of male beauty expressed as style and elegance. His black over-robe is a fine silk gauze? The under robe is a dark red and we see a glimpse of purple trousers and his footprints in the snow? 

and those splendid samurai

#samurai #japaneseprints #yoshitoshi

Another type of male beauty Japanese art describes and celebrates is that of warriors.

This was described as samurai on a moonlit patrol. I presume the moon is setting and thats a pale dawn sky or the moon is rising early ? There's soe wonderful red white contrasts. Note the naginata being used as a lance. Also and this is unusual its not a side or frontal view. We can see the rear of the armour. This is a working soldier on patrol not a kabuki actor posing on stage. 

I get the impression this is something Yoshitoshi saw maybe even sketched. Unfortunately the first draft drawings and sketches of Japanese artists print designers or painters rarely survive.