NAMBAN chest, Japan, ca. late 16th - early 17th century.

NAMBAN chest, Japan, ca. late sixteenth century - early seventeenth century.
In varnished wood, mother-of-pearl and metal sconces.
It has old restorations.
Exhibited at the MuVIM - Valencian Museum of Enlightenment and Modernity.
Measurements: 22,50 x 28 x 18,50 cm.
Japanese export chest made of wood, with geometric decoration with mother-of-pearl inlays (raden) and metallic applications. The structure has a domed lid and a hinged front with a large lock shield in cut brass and rear hinges of the same material. Ornamentation based on geometric registers and radiate circles with mother-of-pearl centers, framed by iridescent shell fillets. Black interior.

Representative example of the Namban chests produced for trade with the West during the Momoyama period (ca. 1573-1615). Its rich mother-of-pearl and metal decoration evidences the mastery of Japanese workshops in inlay techniques intended for European taste, combining formal sobriety and material exoticism.

During the last decades of the 16th century, Japan maintained intense commercial and cultural contact with Europeans, especially with the Portuguese and, later, with the Spanish established in Macao and Manila. This period, known as the Namban period (from the Japanese namban-jin, "barbarians of the south"), gave rise to an artistic production destined for the export market, in which Japanese workshops adapted their techniques and materials to Western tastes.

Among the objects most appreciated by European merchants and missionaries were namban chests, small or medium-sized pieces made of wood, decorated with mother-of-pearl inlays, lacquers of various shades and metal fittings. These chests were used as containers for personal objects, documents, jewelry or relics, both at home and in European convents and churches, where they were often also used to store liturgical objects.

Their structure, derived from European models of travel trunks, was combined with a purely Japanese ornamentation, in which geometric and floral motifs predominated, as well as figurative scenes in the most elaborate examples. This fusion of forms and techniques made Namban chests a tangible symbol of the encounter between East and West during the Age of Discovery and the Christian missions in Asia.