特別展示館

Grand European Collections and
Kyoto Lacquer Shops

The French queen Marie Antoinette's (1755-1793) makie collection is the largest and finest in Europe. Her collection not only consisted of lacquered objects made for export but also small, refined pieces that were in demand domestically by the Japanese. Her collection acts as a kind of time capsule for objects that were sold in Kyoto lacquer shops. Until the first half of the Edo period, all works in makie were based on commission in Japan. The study of overseas collections have revealed that makie came to be sold in shops and distributed in the market at large with the rise of a wealthy merchant class.