The quintessential Japanese aesthetic is that of wabi sabi, a beauty associated with things that are simple, rustic, unpolished or even plain rundown. It is perhaps surprising, then, that this aesthetic is so little in evidence at an extensive exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum of one of Japan's most celebrated craft arts.
This is because the 151 items on display are examples of maki-e lacquerware from the Edo Period (1603-1867), lustrous luxury items in a highly decorative style that owe their beauty as much to their expensive materials and solid craftsmanship as to artistic inspiration.
Maki-e is distinctive for the gold or silver powder and leaf applied during the lacquering process, in which wood is coated and strengthened with the sap of various species of lacquer tree, most particularly Rhus verniciflua. This technique creates a hard, highly polished and ornate finish. As curator Taishu Komatsu points out, this style of lacquering is largely confined to Japan.