Pair of Japanese lacquered bowls with rounded sides curving in towards the lip. On the outside of RCIN 3154.1, a design outlined in black and gold on a fundame ground, with swirling mist encircling islands of growing lotus, reeds and other plants, with some leaves in raised relief; inside, a similar design. RCIN 3154.2 shows, on one side, pine and bamboo growing on an island and two mon emblems, and the other side continues the mythological theme with a crane, a minogame or ‘flaming turtle’ (both further symbols of longevity), and a single mon. The identical gilt-bronze mounts comprising a scrolling rim with Bacchus masks before and behind issuing grapes, vine leaves and tendrils, with a hatched and pounced ground below the thickly cast upper moulded edge. At each side, twisted, fluted and overlapping ribbon-tied stem loop handles, which descend into overlapping quatrefoils. The interior of the mouth rim with pounced panels, and behind each Bacchus mask, a large quatrefoil nut. Where the side handles pierce the lower part of the bowl, a smaller corresponding quatrefoil nut on the inside. The bowl supported on a spiral, shallow-fluted socle with foliage, on a square plinth with pounced panels with burnished borders. The bowl’s foot and handles cut to accommodate the mounts

These bowls combine Japanese lacquer and French mounts of equally high quality. Each bowl was made by building up numerous very thin layers of lacquer on a thin wooden base. The lacquer is decorated with swirling eddies, herons and plants against a granular gold (nashiji) ground. Lacquer objects of this quality were not made for the export market and this may have reached the West by means of the private trading that officers of the various East India companies were permitted to carry on.

Text adapted from Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London 2002 and "Gold", London, 2014 and Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen: Volume III.