EXTRAORDINARY JAPANESE LACQUERED BOWL

Edo Period, pre 1868, probably a temple offering. 4 1/16” diameter, of exceptionally thin construction, the exterior smooth, and the interior revealing a pattern of basket weave beneath the lacquer. Yet the thickness almost like a post card! The interior in lustrous black with a gold (pure gold in lacquer) parrot in animated stance. The exterior in gold overall scribed through to the black lacquer base in lattice panels with wave edge band and a large central peony blossom to the bottom. That technique rarely found in Japanese lacquer and the work done in a somewhat perfunctory hand suggesting that the application itself may have been ritually. A few minor flakes but excellent plus preservation in its kiri wood box. Birds symbolized authority and the giving of the image is an act of submission.