context: lacquerwork > artists

Hon'ami Koetsu's lacquerwork

Boatbridge

Koetsu the painter
(top page for him)

Okada says: "the history of lacquer as a focus for artistic statement rather than as a decorative device, could be said to begin with Hon'ami Koetsu." Nonetheless, Okada and Dunn both suggest that he probably never touched lacquer himself, instead supervising and directing lacquer craftsmen within his arts colony. Julia Hutt disagrees, thinking he may have executed some detail work himself, but I don't suppose we'll ever know, and I don't think it matters. The opening statement is an exaggeration, since there are valued works of lacquer art from several centuries before, but Koetsu did shift the emphasis, and he was an original creator. The writing box shown here, a famous masterpiece, was a fresh shape, with its bulge, and the use of a lead strip was a spectacular new twist.

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