The Edo period: porcelain and lacquer for Europe

Japan closed itself off from the world, but porcelain and lacquer from Arita and Kyoto filled Europe's palaces.

Around 1616 kaolin was found near Arita on Kyushu, and Japan began making porcelain. When China's exports were disrupted in the mid-seventeenth century, the Dutch company bought porcelain in Japan, shipped from the island of Dejima. Imari porcelain in blue, red and gold and Kakiemon porcelain with sparse motifs on a white ground were copied at Meissen and Chantilly.

Japanese lacquer, with gold and silver in several layers, was so coveted that Europeans developed their own imitations, japanning. Prints, kimono textiles and netsuke show the urban culture of Edo.