The Mazarin Chest, renowned as one of the finest pieces of Japanese export lacquer to have survived from the second quarter of the seventeenth century, is a star item in the V&A's internationally acclaimed collection of Japanese art. It is made of black-lacquered wood lavishly decorated with landscape scenes incorporating subject matter from the Tale of Genji and the Tale of the Soga Brothers.
History of the Mazarin Chest
The Mazarin Chest was manufactured in Kyoto in the late 1630s or early 1640s. It is assumed that, like other exampl…
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Design elements on the Mazarin Chest
The Tale of Genji and other design elements of the Mazarin Chest. マザラン･チェストを飾る源氏物語ならびに他の図案…
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Mazarin chest: Decoration techniques
The Mazarin Chest is one of the finest pieces of Japanese export lacquer to have survived from the second quarter o…
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Mazarin Chest: Related Japanese export lacquer in the V&A
The Mazarin Chest belongs to a small group of extremely high quality export lacquer items made in Kyoto during the …
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Mazarin Chest: Related Japanese export lacquer in other collections
The Mazarin Chest has a companion very similar in subject matter and workmanship but somewhat larger in size. It wa…
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A Third Mazarin-type Chest
The panels of the V&A's Vitel Cabinet and the Sotheby's Cabinet together with a recently acquired panel decorated w…
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Lacquer at the V&A
The V&A has an important and substantial collection of lacquer. This includes Asian, Islamic and European japanned …
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Preparing for Morris - the Treatment of a Philip Webb Painted, Silvered Chest
In preparation for the William Morris exhibition, a small chest, acquired by the V& A in 1978, has recently undergone conservation treatment in the Furniture Conservation Studio.
Korean red lacquer chest
This Korean red lacquer chest inlaid with mother-of-pearl decoration was purchased by a curator from the Ceramics Department who was sent to China and Korea to buy acquisitions for the Museum. Such long distance travel on behalf of the Museum was very unusual at this point in time.
Painting the Gonzaga-Montefeltro Chest
This travelling chest bears the coats of arms of Elizabetta Gonzaga of Mantua and Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. The emblems on this chest include the ‘flames of love’, the symbol of the Compagna della Calza, an order of knights based in Venice, to which Guidobaldo’s illustrious father Frederico had belonged. Chests with this distinctive shape were often strapped to the backs of mules or used as household furnishings.
V&A in China
Contacts between V&A and Chinese museum professionals since 2004 have ranged from photography and digitisation to collections research and education programmes.
William Beckford's treasure chest
Showcasing a coffer-shaped display cabinet, William Beckford and Henry Edmund Goodridge. This coffer is the only known survivor of an original set of four, made for William Beckford (1760-1844) at Lansdown Tower, Bath.
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