More than in any other country where the lacquer tree grows, the art of working with its hard-drying sap has excelled here in Japan. Two leading exponents were Ogawa Haritsu (1663-1747) and Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891), who both stand out not only for their inventive sense of design in decorating three-dimensional objects, but also for using the medium of lacquer to imitate other materials such as corroded iron, patinated bronze or rotting wood.
While Haritsu lived in the Edo Period (1615-1868) and at a time of artistic renaissance, Zeshin's life spanned most of the 19th century, during which time he witnessed the colossal changes brought about following the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Today he is celebrated not only for his lacquer masterpieces but also for his paintings.
Until recent times, his work was sniffed at by the elitist Japanese art collectors for being too associated with an urban, merchants' milieu, and so — along with ukiyo-e, mingei folk-crafts, and much Edo Period painting, many of the best examples are in Western collections. The Mr. and Mrs. James E. O'Brien Collection of Shibata Zeshin works at the Honolulu Academy of Arts is one of the best-known, and it is well worth escaping Wikiki beach to see this — and other treasures of this jewel of a museum — next time you are in Hawaii. Another major collection is that of Catherine and Thomas Edson of San Antonio, Texas, that we can now see at the Mitsui Memorial Museum in Nihonbashi, together with examples from Japanese collections.