Restored wooden Nihonmatsu cabinet of drawers
Price: € 2.800,00
Outstanding large and completely restored wooden Nihonmatsu 二本松 ishô’dansu 衣装箪笥 (cabinet of drawers) with elaborately decorated lock plates, in two sections. Fully restored, cleaned and waxed.
The exterior and drawer fronts are made of indigenous hinoki cypress wood finished with red Shunkei-style 春慶 lacquer still showing the lovely natural wood grain.
Configured with two large drawers in the upper part, and the lower with two drawers of different size and a hinged door. Opening to two more small drawers. All the drawers are very deep and have a lot of volume, for easy storage. They run very smoothly as well.
The cabinet has refined circular decorative lock plates equipped with a pair of large raised chrysanthemum-shaped 菊 (kiku) knobs and a design of a brass swallow 雀 (suzume) amid bamboo 竹 (take).
Flanked by sturdy iron ‘warabite’-shaped bail handles with decorative escutcheons and protective hardware shaped like stylized pine trees.
The sides are equipped with rectangular bail “pole carrying”-handles for easy transport and locking the parts in to place.
This high quality ishô dansu is in a very good and completely restored condition. Please see the photos for a condition reference. No keys included.
Meiji period (1868-1912)
Dimensions:
Height 121 cm, Width 114.9 cm, Depth 44.5 cm.
These kind of cabinets originate from Nihonmatsu 二本松, which lies in the Fukushima Prefecture 福島県. Cabinets of this region are known for its large size and decorative lock plates.
Tansu (箪笥) are traditional Japanese mobile storage cabinets. There are many different types of cabinets; form-wise, but also for the storage of many specific objects, like katana, documents, kimono etc. Starting as first recorded in the Genroku era (1688–1704) of the Edo period (1603–1867), tansu gradually became a feature of Japanese culture and daily life. Both hard and softwoods were used by tansuya (tansu craftsmen), often in combination for a single chest. This way the chests were still light enough for transport, while also housing precious (more heavy) wood types, like keyaki. Also features such as side handles, and being built up from several parts facilitated mobility of such an ingenious piece of furniture.
When shipped we will add a certificate of authenticity.
