Two Japanese Export black and gilt lacquer panels, circa 1790

The fashion in Europe for such Japanese lacquer plaques seems to have arisen around in the last quarter of the 18th century. Whether depicting portraits, battle scenes or cityscapes, each consisted of a copper panel covered in black lacquer and decorated with gold hiramakie, togidashi and sparse mura-nashiji with scenes in low relief. They provide the first evidence of ‘European’ scenery in Japanese lacquer. Such Japanese lacquer panels are likely to have been executed in Deshima, Nagasaki, to the order of Dutch trading directors such as Commander Isaac Titsingh, Head of The Dutch East India Company [VOC] in 1780 and 1782-84 and Baron Johan van Reede tot de Parkeler, Head of the VOC in 1786 and 1788-89.

The first panel in this lot belongs to a small group depicting one of the stages of the battle between the Dutch and the British at the Dogger Bank, which took place on 5th August 1781. Plaques from this group are discussed at some length by Oliver Impey and Christiaan Jörg (in Japanese Export Lacquer, 1580-1850, Amsterdam, 2005, p.55). Other examples are in private collections and four from 1792, signed ‘Sasaya’ are in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (each approx. 37 x 53 cm, inv. nrs. NG-NM-6308, 6309, 6310, 6311). The present battle scene was taken from an engraving by R. Muys in 1784, after drawings by Engel Hoogerheyden (1740-1809). A related plaque (measuring 33.5cm x 55.4cm) lacquered after this engraving was sold at Bonhams, London, 16 May 2013, lot 417 (£33,650).

The view in the second panel depicts La Valletta in Malta. Plaques with cityscapes recorded usually depict St Petersburg but other examples with views of Rome also exist. A panel sold recently at Christie’s, London, 23 May 2024, lot 125 (£20,160) depicts the Palace of Versailles. These types of plaques may have been presented as diplomatic gifts, as one plaque depicting a view of the River Neva, St Petersburg with the Winter Palace and the Academy of Sciences was given to Catherine II by J. A. Stutzer, the Swedish doctor who had served with the VOC in Deshima in 1787-88 (ibid., p. 52).