Japan, modern crafts, studio, lacquer; Lacquered hexagonal box with cover, wood with black lacquer and maki-e, mother of pearl and gold sheet decoration of bean flowers and vines, signed by Taguchi Yoshikuni, Japan, 1978.

The theme is of beans growing on protective straw matting, a late evening setting being suggested by the reversal of the usual arrangement of contrasting coloured motifs against a black background. The straw matting and the veins of the leaves are executed by means of hiramaki-e (flat sprinkled picture) techniques. These involve applying lacquer to a plain lacquer ground, sprinkling it with different grades and tones of gold and silver powder, leaving it to dry, and then covering it with layers of transparent lacquer. In this instance Taguchi has scratched away the metal powder to render the grid of the straw matting and the striated pattering on the leaves. For the tips and edges of certain of the leaves he has used flakes of gold, silver and mother-of-pearl, applied piece by piece rather than by sprinkling. He has also used togidashi-e (polished out picture) techniques in the delineation of the stems and the leaves. Togidashi-e is similar to hiramaki-e except that black rather than clear lacquer is used to obliterate the decoration temporarily. The black lacquer is then polished away so that the decoration emerges from below. Through careful control of the polishing, the underlying pattern has been rendered with different degrees of clarity and intensity, adding softness to an otherwise starkly contrasting design. The depiction of the flowers and beans has been achieved by a combination of hiramaki-e using pulverized green lacquer and the inlaying of large pieces of mother-of-pearl and strips of cut-out gold sheet (hyomon). In using the technique of hyomon inlay, Taguchi makes reference to eighth-century lacquerwares preserved in the Shosoin Imperial Repository in Nara.

Taguchi, formerly Professor of Lacquer at Tokyo University of Arts, was appointed a 'Living National Treasure' in 1989. It was used by the artist as a demonstration piece to show his students the different techniques of maki-e ('sprinkled picture') lacquer decoration, including the inlaying of pieces of mother-of-pearl (raden) and cut-out gold sheet (hyomon). Taguchi's work is remarkable for the way in which he transforms workaday images, often taken from the locality north of Tokyo where he lives, into hauntingly beautiful designs.

FE.9:1-1991