ATTRIBUTED TO THE SASAYA WORKSHOP, NAGASAKI, CIRCA 1788, ALMOST CERTAINLY AFTER A PRINT BY JAN CASPAR PHILIP

Japanese lacquer panels decorated with representations from European prints and drawings began to be produced towards the end of the 18th century. Many were executed in Deshima, Nagasaki, commissioned by directors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) such as Commander Isaac Titsingh, Opperhoofd (the commercial factor/head of the VOC in Japan) in 1780 and 1782-84, and Johan Frederik Baron van Reede tot de Parkeler (1757-1802), Opperhoofd in 1786 and 1788-89. Due to the policy of Japanese isolation (Sakoku) imposed by the Tokugawa shogunate, the VOC, who were exempt within the confines of their ‘factory’ in Deshima, were uniquely placed to commission Japanese works of art such as these. In 1793 Baron van Reede tot de Parkeler sent a collection of Japanese objects back to his father in the Netherlands, which he described in a detailed list and letter as including 'two oval portraits or busts of Frederick the Great, one of which is lacquered with colours and the other inlaid...'.

In addition to portrait plaques, topographical views of European and Oriental subjects based on prints were also executed, as well as land- and sea-battles and marine scenes. A series that was probably commissioned by Baron Reede in 1788 included several views of Rome including St Peter's, the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Palazzo dei Conservatori, the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, the Palazzo Corsini, the Churches of S. Eustachio, S. Giovanni Laterano and Santa Costanza, inscribed in a similar manner to the present view of Versailles, with the place names in script to the reverse (illustrated in O. Impey & C. Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580-1850, Amsterdam, 2005, pp. 52-54, figs. 67-78). An example depicting the pyramid of Gaius Cestius in Rome was sold ‘Dealing in Excellence: A Celebration of Hotspur and Jeremy’, Christie’s, London, 20 November 2008, lot 98 (£37,250); an example depicting the Palazzo Corsini is in the Tokyo National Museum.

A set of four large panels (each approx. 37 x 53 cm.) depicting the Battle of Doggerbank (5 August 1781), derived from a series of engravings of the battle by Frederik Murat and Matthias Sallieth published in 1782, were made in 1792 and signed ‘Sasaya’ – and are now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (NG-NM-6308, 6309, 6310, 6311). Two further panels in the Rijksmuseum, similarly signed ‘Sasaya’ and dated 1792, depict Ancient Rome, each with the inscription ‘ROME in it’s [sic] Original Splendour’ and ‘ROME DANS Sa Splendeur Ancienne’ (BK-1960-29-A and B). On the basis of these related examples it is possible to attribute the Versailles panel to the ‘Lakwerker Sasaya’. Rather than a lacquerworker (or Lakwerker) himself, Sasaya is believed to have been a businessman or producer who took commissions from the Dutch, including van Reede, and himself commissioned various craftsmen to undertake the joinery, coating, sprinkling and pearl inlay-work needed to produce such works of art – first in Kyoto and later in Nagasaki where he moved most of his operations.

A panel of the same size as the present view of Versailles, depicting the Royal Dutch fleet before the harbour of Batavia, was inscribed to the reverse ‘DE REEDE VAN BATAVIA’ (coincidentally the Dutch word for natural harbour – Reede – sharing the name of the VOC’s Opperhoofd), sold anonymously, Sotheby’s, Mak van Way, Amsterdam, 1 November 1979, lot 1320; again at Christie’s, Amsterdam, 12 October 2005, lot 36 (€18,000); and subsequently at Christie’s, London, 20 November 2008, lot 97 (£20,000). Larger related lacquer panels depicting scenes of the Royal Dutch and British fleets include: a panel sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 21 March 1990, lot 248 (£28,000); another of the same size, sold anonymously, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 27 September 2005, lot 91 (€45,600); and a similar example sold at Sotheby’s, London, 13 March 1986, lot 145.

Whilst many panels would have been made for the Dutch market, some are likely to have been presented as diplomatic gifts, as one example depicting a view of the River Neva, St Petersburg with the Winter Palace and the Academy of Sciences was given to Catherine the Great by J.A. Stutzer, the Swedish doctor who had served with the VOC in Deshima in 1787-88 (Impey & Jörg, op. cit., 2005, p. 52). For a discussion of similar plaques, see C. Jörg, ‘Japanese lacquerwork decorated after European Prints’, Collection of essays in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Institute of Oriental and Occidental studies, Kansai University, Osaka, 1981 and C. Jörg, ‘Japanese Export Lacquer, Trade and Imitation’, Imitation and Inspiration, Japanese influence on Dutch Art, Amsterdam, 1989, pl. 9.

Prints depicting views of Versailles were relatively prolific in the 18th century, thanks to works by topographical artists such as Jacques Rigaud (1680-1754). Given this particular composition it is likely that this panel is derived from a print by Jan Caspar Philips (1690-1775), entitled Het Koninklyk Paleis van Versailles, van voren, van het Plein te zien (‘The Royal Palace of Versailles, seen from the front of the square’), printed in Amsterdam in 1756. Jan Casper Philips was a German-born draughtsman and engraver who later settled in Amsterdam. Alongside depictions of Versailles, Jan Casper Philips executed views of the Bastille, Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ and portraits of Dutch Mennonite ministers, amongst other subjects. His engravings featured in Jan Wagenaar's Hedendaagse Historie and Kornelis de Wit's Verzaameling van Afbeeldingen van Doopsgezinde Leeraaren. He went on to teach engraving to others, including Simon Fokke (1712-1784) and Caspar Jacobsz Philips (1732-1789), his nephew. A copperplate engraving executed in 1754 by the latter depicting two views of London was similarly copied in Japanese lacquer in the same manner as the present panel, inscribed to the reverse ‘Gezigt langs de rivier de Theems op de brug van London’ and ‘Gezigt langs de theems op de brug van Westmunster’ (with Guus Roell, exhibited at Maastricht, 2018, no. 66).