Ho Brah. Dis is da kine (sorry, I live in Hawai’i and the vernacular slips in from time to time), but this new piece up for auction is amazing. I’ve only seen pieces like this a few times in person, and that was only in stores (I’ve been to this one) and in clients’ homes, and I’ve always scrutinized them in depth when possible. I wanted to see the joinery, how the doors were put together etc. In a store you are usually left alone to browse under watchful eyes so you can only look so far, but some of my customers actually allowed me to pull drawers to look at the construction, let me take out the doors to see how the tacks were fastened. They saw that I truly appreciated their taste and showed an intelligent understanding of furniture in it’s construction as well as the inherent aesthetic appeal. Needless to say this did wonders for client relations; they knew I understood what they wanted and that I could give it back, even if I was just building a bathroom vanity for them. I’ve gotten off topic, so back to the piece.
This is a huge two section Mizuya-dansu (kitchen cupboard) from the late Meiji era. It’s 8’8″ inches wide, which is at the extreme side of typical sizes (normal was 67″ to 69″) so I’m assuming that whoever had it made originally had a really nice house, it had to be a pretty opulent purchase for the time. That being said, its even more opulent now. Made out of Keyaki (Zelkova), Hinoki (Cypress), and Sugi (Cedar), this tansu is of Hikone regional style, with mizarado type sliding doors (a series of slats tacked to the frame). I totally love this style of door (which is why I always wanted to remove them from my clients cabinets to check out this type of fastening). The only thing I don’t like is the two typical mesh backed “pie safe” doors (but that’s purely personal taste). What I like about these tansu is that it shows the evolution of the Japanese kitchen from simple one pot cooking over the irori (sunken hearth, which also provided all the heat to the house), to where there was an actual dedicated kitchen area, one in which you needed storage for all the sumptuary foods, utensils, dishes, and even cookbooks by this time. Albeit being offered at the exorbitant sum of $23,000, I believe that due to its size, materials, and indicative style, it’s definitely worth further scrutiny. Anybody got 23 grand they can lend me?