Smoking Set
ca. 1800-1850
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
A smoking set comprising a cabinet in the form of two superimposed folding fans, with two drawers towards the bottom with gilt-metal ring handles, one drawer on the cabinet's wider side and the other on the shorter side, the latter with a brass-lidded container in the form of a sheaf of grass and engraved on the top; very prominently on the top are two removeable gilt-copper receptacles, comprising a brazier at one end and a smaller container at the other for ashes, with a gourd-shaped cover and a large 'worm-eaten' opening. The cabinet is decorated with trailing gourd vines and flowers in gold hiramaki-e ('flat sprinkled picture') and takamaki-e ('high sprinkled picture') lacquer with kirikane ('cut gold'), and encrusted with white hardstones. The rigid handle of the set is in green lacquer, also forming a pipe holder; the interior of the drawers and the underside of the cabinet are in undecorated black lacquer.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 9 parts.
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| Materials and techniques | Wood covered in lacquer with copper and other metal fittings. |
| Brief description | Smoking cabinet with a handle, wood covered in silver lacquer, decorated with trailing and flowering gourd vines in gold lacquer and encrusted with hardstones, metal fittings, Japan, ca. 1800-1850. |
| Physical description | A smoking set comprising a cabinet in the form of two superimposed folding fans, with two drawers towards the bottom with gilt-metal ring handles, one drawer on the cabinet's wider side and the other on the shorter side, the latter with a brass-lidded container in the form of a sheaf of grass and engraved on the top; very prominently on the top are two removeable gilt-copper receptacles, comprising a brazier at one end and a smaller container at the other for ashes, with a gourd-shaped cover and a large 'worm-eaten' opening. The cabinet is decorated with trailing gourd vines and flowers in gold hiramaki-e ('flat sprinkled picture') and takamaki-e ('high sprinkled picture') lacquer with kirikane ('cut gold'), and encrusted with white hardstones. The rigid handle of the set is in green lacquer, also forming a pipe holder; the interior of the drawers and the underside of the cabinet are in undecorated black lacquer. |
| Dimensions |
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| Content description | Gourd, gourd vines and flowers |
| Style | |
| Credit line | Given by the Misses Alexander |
| Object history | A printed loose label in the cabinet reads 'Burlington Fine Arts Club', while it has a handwritten addition 'W C Alexander' with the number'19'. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.322:1916 |
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| Record created | June 25, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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