Sale Highlights 

A Fine Lacquer Ewer and Basin Made for the Dutch Export Market

A group of lost Portuguese sailors marked the first European encounter with Japan in 1543. By the sixteenth century, Marco Polo’s (1254-1324) tales of the miraculous island kingdom of Zipangu from Il Milione (1298) had firmly rooted themselves in the European imagination. Spurred by the exploratory voyages sponsored by Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) in search of treasures and mysterious lands to the Far East, European explorers and maritime traders increasingly undertook the dangerous journey to discover lands beyond the known world. The rest of the century was punctuated by an ever-increasing contact, trade and cultural exchange between the Europeans and Japanese: firearms, Christianity, Western-style painting and cartography were all introduced to Japan by way of the Portuguese merchants who established trade routes from their Southeast Asian bases to the archipelago during one of the most tumultuous eras in Japanese history. This cross-cultural influence left an indelible mark on the material culture of Japan in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, and has come to be known as Nanban [lit. Southern barbarians] art, after the term applied by the Japanese to the first Europeans arriving on their shores.

Nanban: The Influence of Portuguese Missionaries and Dutch Traders on Japanese Art

Takamatsu Jiro: Painting Shadows 

London

Director

Mark Hinton

Associate Specialist

Jon Adjetey

Cataloguer

Connie Chau

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Sotheby’s Art of Japan&nbsp;sale this autumn season opens with fine Japanese folding screens depicting birds and flowers. A recently discovered example of a Nanban&nbsp;World Map screen, a fine lacquer ewer and basin for the Dutch export market and a Christian lacquer portable shrine are among some of the highlights that illustrate the cross-cultural exchange between Japan and Europe during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. The excellence of Japanese workmanship is showcased by remarkably crafted arms and armour from private collections. From the 20th – 21st centuries, highlights include a large-scale Waterfall by Senju Hiroshi and an enigmatic Shadow painting by Takamatsu Jiro.