Chinoiserie Japanned Humidor Box England, Early to Mid-20th Century

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Description

A lacquered wooden humidor richly decorated in the revived Chinoiserie manner, its exterior finished in deep black japanning and finely … Read more A lacquered wooden humidor richly decorated in the revived Chinoiserie manner, its exterior finished in deep black japanning and finely painted with gilt rocaille scrollwork framing small figural vignettes. Each panel presents a different scene—garden pavilions, river landings, bamboo platforms, and stylized tree-perches—executed in a palette of gold, soft rose, celadon, and leaf green. The imagery follows the imaginative chinoiserie taste pioneered in the mid-18th century, recalling motifs after Jean-Baptiste Pillement and the lacquer traditions applied to English tea caddies and snuff boxes produced in London and provincial japanner workshops.

The hinged lid opens to a white-lined interior suitable for tobacco storage, the form and proportions corresponding closely with humidor and tobacco casket designs rather than a tea caddy, particularly in its airtight, clean interior and single-chamber layout. Although of mid-20th-century manufacture, the decorative language remains firmly rooted in 18th-century precedent, making this an evocative later homage to the lacquered cigarette and cigar boxes produced during the chinoiserie revivals of the interwar and post-war periods.

Measures: 11.625" w x 8" d x 7" h See less