PAIR OF SILVER, COPPER AND GOLD SHAKUDO BRACELETS, CIRCA 1870 Composed of a series of oval-shaped plaques, inlaid with copper, gold and silver shakudo work, depicting various traditional Japanese imagery in high relief, within silver ropetwist frames, lengths: 17.0cm and 17.0cm (2) Footnotes: Interest in Japanese art in Europe coincided with the opening back up of closed Japanese trading ports in the 1850s, followed by an exhibition of Japanese art in London in 1862, curated by Sir J. Rutherford Alcock. Then, in 1876, when the wearing of Samurai swords was banned in Japan, out-of-work metalworkers who usually created elaborate and decorative sword furniture began creating small pieces of metalwork in the same techniques for the new Western market. European jewellers would then set these pieces in jewellery. The shakudo technique involves the inlaying of gold, silver and copper with a range of coloured alloys into a dark base made up of copper alloys with a small amount of gold. The panels in these particular bracelets are likely to originate from earlier pommel caps found at the end of a traditional Japanese sword hilt (Kashira), each panel varying slightly in shape, size and texture. For similar examples of pommel caps see the V&A East Asia collection, London, acc. no. M.54:1-1957 and Bonhams Fine Japanese Art sale 5 November 2020 lot 85. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com