Nobleman's Meal Table (Kakeban) Artist: Unknown

ca. 14th–15th century

Asian Art

By appointment, Wurtele Study Center

Devoid of any surface designs and covered only with thick layers of red and black lacquer, this table is an example of Negoro ware, named after the Negoroji Temple in present-day Wakayama Prefecture, where fourteenth-century Buddhist priests of the Shingon sect began producing sturdy, utilitarian lacquerware for daily use. The graceful form of the table, with its curved legs and scalloped edges, masks its functional purpose. The vermilion red surface is worn with use, revealing the black lacquer underneath. Such well-worn rustic objects were prized by sixteenth-century tea masters and represent a long-standing Japanese aesthetic.

Medium

Red and black lacquer on wood (Negoro ware)

Dimensions

6 9/16 × 12 13/16 × 12 1/4 in. (16.6 × 32.5 × 31.1 cm)

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund

Accession Number

2002.88.1

Geography

Japan

Culture

Japanese

Period

Muromachi period (1336–1573)

Classification

Furniture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Narita Collection, Japan; James Freeman, Kyoto, Japan
Bibliography
  • Sadako Ohki and Takeshi Watanabe, Tea Culture of Japan (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2009), 85, no. 14, ill
  • Ive Aaslid Covaci, "Japanese Lacquer in the Yale University Art Gallery Collection: 'Nobleman's Meal Table and Kodaiji Maki-e'," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2007), 133–34, fig. 1
  • Sadako Ohki, "Japanese Art at Yale," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2007), 42
  • Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007), 152, 377, pl. 138
  • Negoro: sono katachi to iro, exh. cat. (Wajima, Japan: Ishikawa-ken Wajima Shitsugei Bijutsukan, 1998), pl. 11
  • Shuurushi : "Negoro", sono yo to bi, exh. cat. (Sakai, Japan: Sakai-shi Hakubutsukan, 1986), pl. 35
  • Sadamu Kawada, Negoro (Kyoto: Shikosha, 1985), pl. 36
  • Tokubetsuten: Negoro no bi, exh. cat. (Nara, Japan: Nara kenritsu bijutsuken, 1975), pl. 17
  • Saburo Mizoguchi and Hirokazu Arakawa, eds., Negoro (Atami, Japan: Atami Bijutsukan, 1966), pl. 29
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

tables (support furniture)

Inscriptions

折敷形懸盤　根来塗り　室町時代

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