Sackler Presents Outstanding Collection Of Japanese Lacquer Boxes

Original Release July 20, 1998 . Updated 8/7/98*

Cambridge, Massachusetts - One of the most elegant and diverse assemblages of Japanese lacquers outside of Japan will be on display in the special exhibition Symbol and Substance: The Elaine Ehrenkranz Collection of Japanese Lacquer Boxes at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum from September 26, 1998 through January 3, 1999. In much the same way that fine, high-fired ceramics have always been associated with China in the Western consciousness, the Japanese have long been credited with bringing the art of lacquer to its highest technical and aesthetic development. Despite early European infatuation with this sumptuous medium, the history of Japanese lacquer is not a subject well represented in many Western museums. At the Harvard University Art Museums this state of affairs was changed forever by the generous 1996 gift of the Elaine Ehrenkranz Collection of Japanese Lacquer Boxes, which has provided ample high-quality material for both display and study. The exhibition of fifty-six Japanese lacquer boxes will be accompanied by a gallery guide offering an explanation of the development of this complicated and often misunderstood East-Asian medium and a brief account of the its history in Japan. Symbol and Substance is organized by Anne Rose Kitagawa, assistant curator of Japanese art.

Over the past three decades, the gifted painter Elaine Ehrenkranz used her keen aesthetic sensitivities to form a remarkable and representative collection of Japanese lacquer boxes. She quickly realized that the very earliest Japanese lacquersæthose of the Nara, Heian, and Kamakura periods (seventh through mid-fourteenth century)æwere extremely rare and, when available, prohibitively expensive. Thus she decided to assemble a group of slightly later lacquersæranging in date from the Muromachi through Edo periods (mid-fourteenth though mid-nineteenth century)æcollecting only works of great beauty and the highest quality.

East-Asian, or "true" lacquer (Japanese: urushi) is derived from the sap of a deciduous treeæ Rhus vernicifluaænative originally to China and perhaps Korea and Japan. This plant is a member of the Anacardiaceae family that also includes poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac and thus at any stage of the harvesting, refining, or lacquer-making process, contact with (or even the scent of fumes from) urushi can cause an extreme allergic reaction in individuals who are sensitive. Consequently, anyone who works with raw lacquer must take precautions to inoculate themselves through exposure to small amounts of this potentially toxic substance in order to build up a tolerance. Once hardened, however, the finished lacquer surface becomes completely inert and will cause no adverse response even when used as tableware.

True lacquer appears to have first been developed in China during the Neolithic period, around 5000-4000 B.C. The earliest Japanese artifacts that show evidence of lacquer are ceramic vessels, wooden objects, basketwork, and articles of personal adornment dating from the Early Jomon (c. 5000-2500 B.C.) through Yayoi (c. 400 B.C.-250 A.D.) periods. By the beginning of the Early Nara period (645-710), lacquer had become so fundamental to the workings of the court, its elaborate Buddhist rituals, and the Japanese economy as a whole, that aristocrats were mandated by law to plant lacquer trees on their property and pay part of their taxes in urushi. A department of lacquer was also established within the Ministry of Finance. But it was not until the eleventh centuryæa period of relative cultural isolation and introspectionæthat lacquered objects of truly original technique and style came to the fore in Japan. Until that time, Japanese craftsmen skillfully elaborated the methods of their Chinese and Korean teachers but never strayed too far from their models.

However, beginning first during the Nara period (710-794) and building momentum during the Late Heian period (898-1185), Japanese artists invented and developed a new form of lacquer decoration called maki-e, which produced designs of great depth and luminosity and completely transformed the course of Japanese art. The maki-e technique entails scattering tiny pieces of various sizes and colors of flattened, cut metal onto wet lacquer in order to produce elegant patterns or pictures in sparkling gold and/or silver. Over time, different types of maki-e were developed including hiramaki-e (low-relief sprinkled designs), takamaki-e (high-relief sprinkled designs), andæperhaps the most subtle but time consuming of allætogidashi maki-e (sprinkled designs revealed by polishing).

The Japanese invention of maki-eæespecially when used in conjunction with other Japanese lacquer painting and burnishing techniques and new methods of appliqué and inlayærepresents one of the most remarkable marriages of technical mastery and aesthetic sophistication in world history. Japanese artists produced bold, harmonious, graphic designs of great precision and beauty on a variety of lacquered surfaces, including architectural fittings, carriages, saddles, armor, weapons, items of personal adornment, and especially on lovingly crafted wooden boxes of various shapes and sizes that were intended to hold cosmetics, mirrors, incense, artwork, food, and gaming and writing utensils. These were items of conspicuous consumption which proved to be immensely popular with wealthy Japanese patrons from the courtly, warrior, and the later merchant classes.

The Elaine Ehrenkranz Collection boasts many important examples of maki-e, including a gorgeous Long Scroll Box (Nagafubako) of the Muromachi period (1392-1568). Delicate nadeshiko (wild carnation) flowers in cut gold and silver foil have been painstakingly applied to a surface enlivened by foliage in fundame (a type of hiramaki-e in which very fine metal powder has been sprinkled so heavily that it looks like solid gold) over a breathtaking nashiji (pear-skin gold) ground. The opulent materials and technical brilliance of execution lend power and weight to subdued imagery typical of the period. The repetitive, frontal nadeshiko appliqués do not represent mere shapes of nature, but take the form of a mon, or family crest. Such heraldic emblems were used beginning in the Heian period and quickly proliferated to decorate all manner of aristocratically patronized textiles, metalwork, and lacquerware.

A seventeenth-century Inkstone Box (Suzuribako), intended to contain various writing implements, possesses a breathtaking cover design of plump, curvilinear cherry blossoms suspended above a woven zigzag fence. The flowers are represented by identical appliqués of silver foil that have been applied to the lacquer surface against a ground of delicate sprinkled gold nashiji. These cutouts stand in stark contrast to the pleasingly bold and graphic herringbone pattern of the golden fundame fence and its three-dimensional lead-inlay supports. The sweeping design spills effectively over the edges of the boxæone of the hallmarks of the very finest Japanese lacquer.

At the beginning of the Edo period (1615-1867) divisions between the various art forms began to blur as well-known painters were commissioned to supply designs to decorate a variety of Japanese objects. A later example of this trend can be observed in a natural wood-grained Document Box (Ryoshibako) designed by the innovative Edo-period artist Ogawa Haritsu (1663 - 1747), who is well represented in the Ehrenkranz Collection. The grace and understatement of this box, decorated on the exterior with a gong, two sutras (Buddhist texts), and a ritual implement called a vajra, belie the effort that went into its making. Haritsu (also known as Ritsuo) was a consummate craftsman in many media who pioneered the technique of inlaying custom-made pieces of glazed ceramic into lacquer. This box combines multiple built-up layers of urushi and intricate inlays of ceramic, lead, and tortoiseshell. On the interior of the box's lid a ceramic inlay representing a single pink-tinged lotus petal is juxtaposed against a decaying lotus leaf of lead-colored lacquer. The lotus is the international symbol of the Buddhist faith, signifying the beauty and purity of the Buddha's teachings despite their origins in this impure world of illusions. Thus Haritsu's display of technical virtuosity is simultaneously an eloquent statement of the Buddhist concept of the evanescence of all living things.

The fifty-six boxes generously donated to by Elaine Ehrenkranz to Harvard have been published together in a fully-illustrated catalogue by Barbra Teri Okada entitled Symbol & Substance in Japanese Lacquer: Lacquer Boxes from the Collection of Elaine Ehrenkranz (Weatherhill, 1995), which delves not only into the aesthetic beauty and symbolism of Japanese lacquer, but does much to explain the intricate planning, painstaking labor, and supreme artistry that determined its construction and elaborate decoration.

Symbol and Substance: The Elaine Ehrenkranz Collection of Japanese Lacquer Boxes is supported with funds from the David A. Ellis Oriental Art Fund and the John M. Rosenfield Teaching Exhibition Fund.

*Editors Note: This update reflects a credit to the David A. Ellis Oriental Art Fund in support of the exhibition and a change in the M. Victor Leventritt Symposium times (see below).

RELATED EVENTS
Gallery talks
Gallery talks are free with the price of admission to the Art Museums. Hearing assists are available for gallery talks; arrangements should be made beforehand by phoning (617) 495-8286. To request a sign language interpreter, the public should call (617) 495-2397 using Massachusetts Telephone Relay Service 1-800-439-2370 three weeks in advance of the gallery talk.

Saturday, November 28, 11:30 a.m., Arthur M. Sackler Museum
with Anne Rose Kitagawa, assistant curator of Japanese art and exhibition curator.

Sunday, December 13, 2:00 p.m., Arthur M. Sackler Museum
with Anne Rose Kitagawa, assistant curator of Japanese art and exhibition curator.

M. Victor Leventritt Symposium:
The Art of Japanese Lacquer
Saturday, September 26, 1998, 9:45 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Arthur M. Sackler Museum, free
Beginning at at 9:00 a.m. visitors will be able to view the exhibition and complimentary morning coffee will be available in the Sackler lobby. Complimetary parking available in the Broadway Garage on the corner of Felton Street and Broadway.

A variety of specialists will present lectures and films on the topic of East-Asian lacquer, providing an in-depth introduction to this vitally important artistic medium.

Speakers include Anne Rose Kitagawa, assistant curator for Japanese art, Arthur M. Sackler Museum; Robert D. Mowry, curator of Chinese art, Arthur M. Sackler Museum; Ann Yonemura, associate curator of Japanese art, Freer Gallery of Art/ Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; and Andrew M. Watsky, assistant professor of Japanese art, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY.

The M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Fund was established through the generosity of the wife, children, and friends of the late M. Victor Leventritt, Harvard class of 1935. The purpose of the fund is to present outstanding scholars of the history and theory of art to the Harvard and greater Boston communities.

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The Harvard University Art Museums' facilities are wheelchair accessible. For general information, please call (617) 495-9400. For press information or photographs, please contact Kate McShea Ewen at (617) 495-2397. For more information on events, please contact the Friends, Fellows, and Special Programs Office at (617) 495-4544. World Wide Web: www.artmuseums.harvard.edu.

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The Harvard University Art Museums comprise three museums (Busch-Reisinger Museum, Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum), all located on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, MA, at the intersection of Quincy Street and Broadway, adjacent to Harvard Yard. The Art Museums are open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Closed holidays. Admission is $5.00; $4.00 for senior citizens; $3.00 for students; free under 18, on Saturday mornings and, as of July 1, 1998, on Wednesdays. For special tour reservations, please call (617) 496-8576. General tours are offered Monday through Friday from September through June; Wednesdays only in July and August. The Fogg tour is at 11:00 a.m.; the Busch-Reisinger tour is at 1:00 p.m.; and the Sackler is at 2:00 p.m. The Harvard University Art Museums is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.