Japanese Gallery at the LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair 2014

They do such a wonderful job setting up the LAPADA fair in Berkeley Square every year – making it so beautiful and inviting!

There was one stand at the LAPADA fair that I just had to stop at because of its pure beauty of colours and design:

Japanese Gallery at the LAPADA fair

I had reached the Japanese Gallery; traders since 1977, who bring us a wide selection of genuine Japanese art and artefacts, and showcase items like ceramics, Katana (traditionally made Japanese sword) and Ukiyo-e, that we are looking closer at below.

Exquisite porcelain cups and saucers from Japanese Gallery

The Japanese word for describing porcelain and pottery is Yaki.  The history of porcelain-making in Japan is quite a brutal one, as a Japanese army invaded Korea in 1598, in the very beginning of the Edo period (1603-1868).  They kidnapped a few families that had learnt the art of pottery making from the Chinese, brought them back to Japan and set up their own porcelain production.  The continental influences remained in the art, even after Japanese artisans took to porcelain making and applied their artistic license many years later.

The famous tea ceremony culture gained ground in the late 16th century in Japan, which increased the porcelain production further.  Another increase in the demand of these exquisite pieces came with the baroque époque in Europe in the 17th century, when many people became wealthy and demanded oriental and unusual things.  (1)

This is a just a small extract of this fascinating history, and you can dig deeper into Japanese history on the Japanese Gallery website.

Satsuma maple design plate 1868-1912 from the Japanese Gallery at the LAPADA fair

Japanese Gallery art at the LAPADA fair

Ukiyo-e means “pictures of the floating world” and the world referred to in the name was one free from worries and concerns of life.  (1) and is a genre of woodblock prints and paintings that were popular in Japan from the 17th until the 19th century.  The artists would often paint beautiful women, sumo wrestlers, historic, landscape and travel scenes, as well as flora and fauna (2).

Japanese Kimono and Obi, Japanese Gallery at the LAPADA fair

There was also a lovely lady dressed in a traditional kimono among all these beautiful treasures.  I will be writing a blog post about vintage kimonos soon, so I was absolutely delighted to get a few photos of her!

 

Japanese Gallery

66D Kensington Church Street

London

W8 4BY

 

Sources:

(1) Japanese Gallery

(2) Wikipedia

Wakelin & Linfield Antiques at LAPADA 2014

So LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair took place the other week, and filled Berkeley Square with the most exquisite pieces of antique furniture and jewellery.  I first visited Michael Wakelin & Helen Linfield’s fine antique furniture for town and country, where these very unusual Chinese paintings of fish were adorning their wall:

Most unusual Chinese paintings

We found out that it is highly unusual to find these rice paper pictures with fish as the subject – usually you will see them with all other types of animals, so it was quite a treat for us to be able to admire these ones.  I did however love the following paintings very much, and wouldn’t mind having a few in my house one day:

Wakelin & Linfield Chinese Paintings

I also fell in love with the 19th century Italian oak table below, which had such a remarkable top!  The description for it read:

A fine 19th century high renaissance styled oak table with a fine trompe l’oeil Pietra Dura specimen marble top  

Italy c 1850  £19,500

Since Trompe l’œil as well as Pietra Dura are both new expressions to us, I thought that we could take a closer look:

 19th century oak table with a fine trompe l’oeil marble top – Italy ca 1850, £19,500

I would love to have this beautiful table in a large hallway, with a lovely flower arrangement in top!

You can see in the photos above that the pattern on the table promotes a 3D effect.  This is the result of the art technique Trompe l’œil (French for deceive the eye), which creates the optical illusion that the object is three dimensional.

The Trompe l’œil art form has its roots in antiquity and legend has it that the painter Zeuxis in ancient Greece painted such realistic grapes that birds descended upon them for a nibble!  His fellow artist Parrhasius was so impressed and inspired by his work, that he invited Zeuxis over to judge one of his paintings a few weeks later.  He showed Zeuxis into his study and urged him to take a look at the painting, which was residing behind a curtain.  Zeuxis was so eager to see the painting that he immediately tried to move the curtains aside, only to find out that the curtains were in fact the painting – making Parrhasius the winner!

This beautiful 19th century high renaissance styled oak table featuring fine trompe l’oeil as well as Pietra Dura

Pietra Dura on the other hand is a term for the inlay technique of creating images by using cut and fitted, highly polished colored stones.  Marbles were used a lot, like on our table here – but different coloured stones along with semiprecious and even precious stones were also often used.  This decorative art form has its roots in Rome in the 16th century, and it eventually reached its full maturity in Florence.

 Late 18th century occasional table – England c. 1780 £4950

I also have a thing for really elegant tables, and this one was just so beautiful that I had to show it to you – the description reading:

An exceptionally fine model of a late 18th century occasional table (formerly a work table – bag now missing) the oval top, shelf and frieze in burr yew and cross banded in zebrawood.  The elegantly drawn legs with ebony inlay and carved ebony roundels to the feet.  England c. 1780 £4950

I just love the zebrawood details… 

Another closeup of this stunning table

So if you want to see more from the Wakelin & Linfield collection you can find them just 4 miles from Petworth, just make sure that you make an appointment before you visit.  You can find more information on their Wakelin & Linfield website.