Japan, Meiji period (1868-1912)The shodana (display cabinet) supported on the original gold-lacquer stand with four curved feet and neatly decorated in gold hiramaki-e and takamaki-e with several minogame (thousand-year-tortoises) amongst meandering streams and rocks. The silver and shakudo fitted cabinet comprising two pairs of hinged cupboard doors, one single corner door, one set of sliding doors, staggered shelves and three drawers, decorated in gold takamaki-e, kirigane and e-nashji with floral and mountainous landscape, as well as different birds, the top, sides, and reverse scattered with aoi-mons, the cupboard doors bordered with hanabishi (flowery-diamond) motifs.This shodana is ideal for presenting miniature artworks such as netsuke.HEIGHT (with stand) 37.5 cm, LENGTH (with stand) 31.5 cmCondition: Very good condition with only minimal wear to lacquered decoration and edges.Provenance: British private collection.Auction comparison:Shodana of this scale are exceedingly rare. For a larger shodana with a similar decoration of aoi-mons see Christie’s, The Collector: European and English 18th and 19th Century Furniture and Works of Art, Silver, Ceramics and Gold Boxes, 15 July 2020, London, lot 236 (sold for 30,000 GBP).