gems, Japan, Japanese art, ivory, jade, laquer,

Japan’s Meiji Era, which lasted from 1868 until 1912, is a time of tumultuous change. Following the fall of the isolationist military government of the shoguns, the country’s new leaders built a constitutional nation state, and a modern economy and army. Within two decades they astonished Russia and Prussia. At the same time, foreign embassies were opened in Japan’s ancient port cities, soon joined by merchant enterprises which avidly traded in Japanese ceramics and other works of art. That artistry, especially the technical accomplishments and exotic appeal of Meiji metalwork and lacquerware, can never be surpassed.