A RARE JAPANESE NEGORO-STYLE LACQUER CUP STAND, TENMOKU-DAI

MUROMACHI (1333-1573) OR LATER

The hollow bowl on a delicate mallow-shaped dish, the hexagonal foliate body rising on a splayed foot, the surface decorated with scrolling designs in low relief, with a paper label for 'Mayuyama & Co., Tokyo, n.41' to the inside of the foot, 16cm dia, 8cm high.

Provenance: previously the collection of Soame Jenyns (1904-1976), purchased from Mayuyama & Co. Now the property of an English gentleman, purchased from Spink.

Cf. J Watt and B Brennan Ford, East Asian Lacquer, The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp.181-182 no.74, for a comparable negoro lacquer tenmoku-dai and a discussion on the uses of these cup stands throughout Japanese history.

Also, see Christie's London, The Soame Jenyns Collection of Japanese and Chinese Art, 1-8 November 2018, lot.131, for another Japanese lacquer piece from Jenyns' s personal collection bearing a label for Mayuyama & Co., Tokyo, n.37.

This cup stand is an unusual example of Japanese red and black negoro-style lacquer with relief decoration. The elegant shape is based on the Chinese zhantuo, the tall stands used to hold ceramic bowls for tea. The practice of drinking tea after meditation was introduced from China to Japan by Eisai (1141-1215), who popularized both tea drinking and Zen in the country. These elegant stands, inspired by the classic early Ming six-lobed shape, became popular in the Muromachi era (1333-1573) and remained prized throughout the Edo period for the more formal style of tea ceremonies.