Featured Wooden bowl gilt on black, Japanese?

Hello

I bought this mystery bowl. It is wooden with a finely painted gilt pattern. I think its Japanese but not totally sure. It feels just like painted wood, rather than lacquer. Theres a little colouring in the petals and butterfly wings.

15.5cm diameter, 4.5cm height

 

Pretty thing! I would have bought it too!

What is on the bottom?

 

Very nice and it looks old.

 

Looks like a round felted piece that has lost its felt.

Debora

 

A bottle coaster? The decorative treatment would have been called "Japanned", but I don't know if it was made there or not.

 

My kind of thing. I'd have bought it in a second! I've had this little jewelry box since I was a child. It has a shelf with a drop in section. I always thought it was "japanned" and not real lacquer. I just love the gold on black.

 

That's a real beauty.

 

Agree.

Debora

 

In reference to the 'mystery bowl', Looks like burlap on the bottom......to me! And then I saw Debora's post, and she could be right too!!

 

It looks like a very nice example of an English Regency period coaster painted in the Japanese style. It's probably papier-mache, which can feel like wood, especially when this old.

 

The fabric on the bottom of the bowl looks like it may be incorporated into the structure of the bowl, not just applied to the base. It may be "fulled" wool - a woven textile with the nap raised by brushing, which would make it look like felt. (Felt is a non-woven structure.) This would be more consistent with a European/English origin, as @Ce BCA suggests.

 

https://www.antiques-atlas.com/antique/pair_of_papier_mch_wine_decanter_coasters/as722a533

 

Wow! Quite lovely.

 

It is indeed. Just image what other objects went on the table with it.

Debora

 

Wasn't this referred to as chinoiserie - Victorian era did a lot of black painted paper mache items

 

I removed the fabric. Thank you all for your responses. Regency papier mache does give a few similar results.

 

Why?

 

Ditto.

Debora