Seeking opinions of this Old Japanese Tray

[HarpPlayerGene]

Found this at a thrift shop. It just looks so old (and dirty, I might add) that I had to buy it. Seems to be cardboard of a sort. Handpainted, I imagine. Note the embossed blossom on the back and the Patent Info among the cracks, stains and burns. This thing has led a rough life.

Please provide any information about what this is and when it's from, if you have knowledge about these types of Japanese items.

Thanks!

MORE PHOTOS:
http://s261.photobucket.com/albums/ii79/harpplayergene/SELLERS/Antique Japanese Tray Cardboard/

 

[fluteplayer07]

No clue Gene, but it looks really neat. Hopefully someone has some info about it.

Good luck,
flute

 

[Shangas]

It's got two handles on it, I see. I imagine that this was once a tea-tray. You had your teapot, your cups and other accessories on it, and you used it for serving tea to several people, such as when you had guests over for dinner. It's got a significantly raised edge, probably to stop the cups, saucers, spoons, etc, from sliding off it onto the floor. The edge is rounded and curved, probably to better fit the curved sides of teapots and cups.

This is just my theory, I may be totally wrong.

 

[Foofoogal]

japan paper mache tray

Do a search just like this in Google. Not Google products but just Google.
Wide price range.

 

[Shangas]

Okay...now we know what it's made of...but what were they used for?

 

[LaMedicine]

These probably were made exclusively for export, at least, they weren't for the general Japanese market, considering the shape and motif. I don't remember having anything like this in our home, and I also don't remember having any paper mache trays of this type in our homes, or in homes of relatives and friends, either. Relatively small things like boxes and pen trays with traditional Japanese paper prints, yes, but nothing like this one. Traditional Japanese trays are laquered or polished wood, the types of things you would call "Japan", and don't have handles shaped like this one. Maybe aristocratic Japanese families with a bent towards Western culture would have had something like this in their household, but not the average Japanese household. With export products, the Japanese would have made designs that were popular in Europe and the US--mostly Europe, I think--at that time, which means, you should be able to roughly date the item by researching when these kinds of motifs were popular. I have next to no knowledge about antiques, but the motif seems Victorian? to me.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Thank you, LaMedicine, and others for points of view. Very helpful. I appreciate it.

 

[Shangas]

I agree with LaMedicine,

From my knowledge, Asian crafts (Chinese, Japanese, etc) tended to be fairly angular and squareish; this is more rounded and with a more Victorian look to the decorations. Plus, the red stamp on the base looks like something you'd find on a piece made for export. The Japanese started trading with Western countries in the mid 19th century, so this could be over a hundred years old...

 

[LaMedicine]

*Standard* Japanese stuff is either with four corners, or no corners No *fancy* shapes like this one.
I checked the patent number against the data base of the Japan Patent Office. I couldn't bring anything up, because the date is needed as well as the number ouch.
And yes, my first thought was it probably was from around the turn of the century--19th to 20th--possibly late 19thC.

 

[LaMedicine]

Oh, and considering the period this was made, only products for export or souveniers for foreigners would have carried the stamp, Made in Japan. Those sold to the Japanese public in Japan wouldn't have such stamps, though they would have had the traditional stamps and/or marks of the crafters or makers that established businesses invariabley had, and that would have been enough for the customer to know its origin. In fact, antique dealers here can tell the date and the origin and sometimes, even the name of the craftsman, of such items by just looking at these traditional stamps because of the very minor variations in the stamps that are specific to the era and/or the particular craftsman.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

This is fascinating.

It is easy to believe that this could be over a century old.

With the info provided by LaMedicine and Foofoogal, I was able to view many online images of similar items - albeit they were in much better condition than mine. Oh well, I really like the charm of this piece even with the scars. I think I'll try to carefully clean away some of the surface grime and see if I can expose some better color.

Thank you all once again.

 

[Shangas]

Oh, and considering the period this was made, only products for export or souveniers for foreigners would have carried the stamp, Made in Japan. Those sold to the Japanese public in Japan wouldn't have such stamps, though they would have had the traditional stamps and/or marks of the crafters or makers that established businesses invariabley had, and that would have been enough for the customer to know its origin. In fact, antique dealers here can tell the date and the origin and sometimes, even the name of the craftsman, of such items by just looking at these traditional stamps because of the very minor variations in the stamps that are specific to the era and/or the particular craftsman.

Hey LaMedicine,

I think you're referring to what are known as 'chops'. (called 'seals' in this Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_(East_Asia) )

Chops were (and still are) traditional desk-accessories in several Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, China and Japan (to name but a few). Chops were a bit like signet-rings or sealing-stamps in western culture, but instead of a coat of arms, a monogram or a crest, you had your name in Chinese (or Japanese, as the case may have been) and you used your chop to sign your work, be it a painting, a piece of pottery or an important document, such as a will.

Chop-marks are very distinctive; almost invariably red and white, square in appearance, consisting of 3-4 Asian characters, set out in a grid pattern. Chop marks are read left to right, top to bottom.

Any locally-made products for domestic use in Japan or China would have had the maker's chop-mark stamped or imprinted into the product (such as chinaware, pottery, paintings, etc), but anything made for a foreign market would've had an English stamp instead of a Chinese or a Japanese chop-mark, since westerners probably wouldn't understand what it meant. The lack of a chop-mark anywhere on that tray and its substitution with an English stamp instead would strongly suggest that this was made for export from Japan to a Western country probably in the late 19th century.

As LaMedicine said, Asian...ahem...'stuff', is often either very angular, or without angles at all and very round, but not a combination of the two, which is what this tray appears to have.

I have my own chop with my name engraved on it (my mother gave it to me as a Christmas present last year; my parents know I love writing-accessories). Here's a photo of my chop, and the print that it leaves, to give you an idea:

The red stuff is traditional cinnabar ink-paste. Don't try and eat it; cinnabar is another name for mercury...

...Sorry to make this diversion from the main thread; we now return you to your regularly-scheduled conversation...

 

[LaMedicine]

Present day Japanese chops--we call them "hanko" 判こor "inkan" 印鑑-- are round. Though square ones still exist, they were in more popular use up until 150 years or so, and present day square ones are of organizations rather than an individual.
The imprint of mine for daily use. I have several, one of which is a registered stamp that is used to authenticate legal documents that involve estates and registered ownership of certain assets that are required by law.

Not just chops, though. There is also a special stylized signature that is called "kao" that also originally came from China, though I don't know if it ultimately was/is as widespread in China as it became in Japan.