Lot 187
LACQUERED WOOD CHEST
MEIJI PERIOD
Auction: 13 September 2017 at 11:00 BST
Description
with a pair of hinged doors above two large drawers, with metal strappings, handles and lockplates, lacquered with chrysanthemum sprays springing up alongside a stream
Dimensions
96cm wide, 113cm high, 43cm deep
Footnote
The Japanese Art Collection of the late Hugh Malcolm (1886-1961)
Lyon & Turnbull is proud to offer the Japanese art collection of Hugh Malcolm (1886-1961), comprising fine pieces of Japanese ceramics, ivory, lacquer and metal work.
Malcolm lived in the Japanese cities of Kobe and Yokohama from 1913 until 1936, where he worked for the Rising Sun Petroleum Company (known today as Shell) and was Managing Director from 1924 - 1936. Gathered over many years his collection was formed both of gifts and personal purchases, many of which the original receipts still remain.
After the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 which destroyed most of Tokyo and Yokohama, Malcolm commissioned the Czech architect and assistant to Frank Lloyd Wright Antonin Raymond (1888-1976) to design a new house for him. Many of the items of his collection were displayed in the modernist house before coming to the UK with the end of Malcolm's overseas mission.
The highlight of the collection includes a Meiji period gold-lacquer box finely decorated in the traditional takamaki-e technique with a cottage in an idyllic landscape.