Large Circular Tray

The largest of a small chain of islands in the western Pacific Ocean stretching in an arc from Japan to Taiwan, Okinawa was the likely manufacturing center of the famed lacquer ware of the trading kingdom known as the Ryukyu Islands, which was annexed to Edo-period Japan in 1609. This is a fine example of Ryukyuan lacquer ware technique: it combines a black lacquer ground with figural and abstract patterns executed in colorful iridescent mother-of-pearl insets that have been cut wafer thin and incised with elaborate interior details.

The tray’s inner surface is decorated with a pair of striding dragons that encircle a flaming pearl of Buddhist lore with a border of other felicitous Buddhist emblems and stylized cloud patterns. The lacquer ateliers of the Ryukyu Islands produced plates similar to this one as tribute from the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom to the Qing dynasty imperial court in Beijing during the eighteenth century, when this tray was manufactured.