Antique Shibayama Japanese Whist counter rosewood Meiji period

Antique Shibayama Japanese Whist counter rosewood Meiji period (image 1/1)
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Antique Shibayama Japanese Whist counter Rosewood circa 1880 in extremely good condition. It was in Japan that whist counters achieved their highest degree of artistic expression. During the Meiji era, the Emperor decided to Westernize the country, and the artists and artisans who had created netsukes, sword furniture and exquisite lacquerware inro suddenly found themselves out of work. Some turned to making items for the export trade, and one thing that suited their talents perfectly were whist counters. In the 1880's Orientalism became the rage in Great Britain and France, and exotic Japanese whist counters were eagerly snapped up (no pun intended). The examples below date to this period. Because the Goodall design wasn't patented until 1888, we can probably date all of these counters to the 1890's. The first pair are made entirely of lacquer, the rest have a rosewood body. All have pegs inlaid with small hard-stone insects, a technique called Shibayama, and all have the same kind of floral lacquer ("hiramaki-e") designs that are found on Japanese inro.
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