A RARE JAPANESE WOOD AND LACQUER SADDLE

A RARE JAPANESE WOOD AND LACQUER SADDLE, SUIKAN KURA

MOMOYAMA PERIOD OR LATER, 16TH/17TH CENTURY

The surface decorated in black lacquer, urushi, the front with a Christian gold lacquer maki-e mon depicting a pattée cross, kurusu, in a circle above a lotus flower, with radiating rays around it, possibly the crest for the Satsuma clan or another Christian Daimyo family, 41cm.

The pattée or patty cross is characterised by arms that are narrower at the centre. Objects made for Jesuit missionaries in Edo period Japan sometimes bear this symbol and so it is possible this saddle was made for a high-ranking convert.