Important Namban Chest in mother-of-pearl marquetry and lacquered wood, Japanese school, Portuguese colonial work ...

Important Namban Chest in mother-of-pearl marquetry and lacquered wood, Japanese school, Portuguese colonial work of the 17th century
Closed measurements: 25.5 x 42 x 36 cm. In lacquered wood, gilt and finely inlaid with mother-of-pearl marquetry and embossed copper fittings. Nanban art (南蛮美術) refers to Japanese art from the 16th and 17th centuries influenced by contact with the Nanban (南蛮) or 'Southern Barbarians', traders and missionaries from Europe and specifically from Portugal. It is a Sino-Japanese word, Chinese "Nanman", which originally referred to the peoples of South and Southeast Asia. During the Nanban trading period, the word took on new meaning when it came to designate the Portuguese, who first arrived in 1543, and later other Europeans. The term also refers to the paintings that Europeans brought to Japan. Nanban art developed after the first Portuguese ships arrived in Kyushu in 1543. While Christian icons and other objects were produced, Nanban byōbu (南蛮屏風) or folding screens are particularly notable, with more than 90 pairs surviving to this day. These vibrant paintings depicted foreigners of all colors arriving at Japanese ports and walking the streets of towns in Japan's interior. Another popular theme within Nanban art was the depiction of foreign warriors. Artists from the Kanō school were joined by those from the Tosa school in combining foreign subjects with Japanese painting styles. Western art canons of the time, such as linear perspective and alternative materials and techniques, seem to have had a short-lived influence in Japan. Given the persecution and prohibition of Christianity since the late 16th century and the Tokugawa policy of sakoku, which largely closed Japan to foreign contact since the 1630s, Nanban art began to decline. Reference bibliography: Okamoto, Yoshitomo (1972). The Namban Art of Japan. weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-1008-5; Alexandra Curvelo, Obras-primas dos biombos Nanban, Japan-Portugal 17th century, Chandeigne, 2015 (ISBN 978-2-36732-120-2). Origin: important Catalan private collection. 2015 (ISBN 978-2-36732-120-2). Origin: important Catalan private collection. 2015 (ISBN 978-2-36732-120-2). Origin: important Catalan private collection.