A History of Japanese Lacquerwork

Rague, Beatrix Von

ISBN 10: 0802021352 / ISBN 13: 9780802021359

Published by University of Toronto Press, Toronto; Buffalo, 1976

About this Item

Hardback with dust-wrapper. 303pp. Several b&w illustrations. Translated from the German by Annie R. de Wassermann. Repaired tear to front of d/w. Private ownership. (al22).

Seller Inventory # AL22RDBK2602

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A History of Japanese Lacquerwork
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Toronto; Buffalo
• Publication Date: 1976
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802021352
• ISBN 13: 9780802021359
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fair
• Seller catalogs:
  • Art

About this title

Synopsis

The exquisite art of Japanese lacquerwork has long had its share of devotees and collectors in the West. But there has been little to help them take the step from admiration to more exact knowledge, since only a handful of experts have access to the comprehensive, although not always systematic, Japanese literature on the subject.

This book is a translation form the German of the only western work on the history of the craft. Professor van Rague links the development of Japanese lacquerwork to dated pieces, giving a sequence of fixed reference points around which she fits numerous other significant but undated examples. She also clarifies the evolution of shape, design, and style, from prehistoric to present times, and discusses related arts such as ceramics, metalwork, and textiles to trace the relationship between the various branches of Japanese applied art and their influence on lacquerwork.

This book is lavishly illustrated with black and white and some color photographs of outstanding examples of Japanese lacquerwork, and is written in a style easy to read. Appendixes contain notes, a list of dated objects from 764 to 1964, a glossary of Japanese descriptive terms, a list of Japanese artists and technical terms with corresponding Japanese characters, a bibliography, and an index.

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation)