In Boston, the Gibson Museum is home to some of the most modern and common artifacts and antiques found in Asia in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. The significant relationship between the Massachusetts government and the Asian traders meant more art pieces found their way into the Boston area. The Gibson House Museum was no exception. The museum has art from different areas of the Asian region representing the different countries and relationships these countries had with the Boston area when it came to trade. One of the artifacts in the museum that is memorable for art lovers is a Japanese Apothecary chest. The set represents the relationship that the country had with the Boston area and how the exchange of art helped improve how America viewed these countries’ traditions. The countries tended to ensure they showcased parts of their country’s cultures and traditions in these pieces of art to showcase to the western audience things they might not have known about their culture. The Gibson Museum plays a big role in highlighting the chest and shows how the different aspects of the Japanese culture could be highlighted as part of learning about the origin of the chest.

The Gibson House Museum

            The Gibson House Museum is a home area for different generations of the Gibson family tree. The museum was occupied by three generations of the Gibson family between 1859 and 1964, with the residents helping to shape the museum’s contents through all four floors of the house (The Gibson House Museum, 1). The four floors of the house are full of different pieces of art that hundreds of visitors enjoy when they visit it. The museum is located in the Boston neighborhood of Back Bay, where the different objects are part of the demonstration of the culture and the traditions of different people who worked in the house (The Gibson House Museum 1). The museum is quick to acknowledge that although one of the members of the Gibson family profited from slave profits in Brazil, there was not one enslaved worker in the house; therefore, none of the objects represent slavery. The objects are either export objects or materials that have a sort of inspiration behind their existence and were made possible by the trade relationship between Boston and the Asian region in the 19^th century.

The Japanese Apothecary Chest

            One of the standout pieces of art in the museum is a Japanese apothecary chest that looks antique. The chest is an example of Japonisme art that found its way into America and Boston in the 19^th century and allowed different people to understand the Japanese culture. The chest has various Japanese concepts and cultures that help the audience in the West to have a feel and understanding of what it entails. The chest is one of the objects that the Gibson family valued since it was a gift by one of the prominent physicians John Collins Warren (The Gibson House Museum 1). The chest is one of the objects that are hard to understand the origin story of since although it has Asian and especially Japanese components, it looks like it was built for westerners due to its stationary look. The chest has Japanese symbolism in its outward features, but some of the design systems look to have been created for a western market. The ambiguity of the object makes it an intriguing concept to understand and requires the different audience members to understand how to market it effectively.

History of the Apothecary Chest

            The apothecary’s chest was created as an artifact to sell to the western world audience. The object’s design was in line with how most of the traders at the time were making the products. The tradition of the Asian people was an important aspect of the art trade in the 18^th century. The people who depended on this concept had an interest in the traditions and culture of the Asian people. John Warren, who sold the crest to the Gibsons, was interested in Asian history through their art, and the crest presented an opportunity for him to explore the origins of the object.

The Apothecary’s chest is housed in the Gibson Museum.

The chest is of Japanese culture and has many drawers that the Japanese traditionally used to store various products such as herbs and medicinal mixtures. The practical nature of the chest made it a popular product in Japan. Japanese art in the western culture was a byproduct of the trade between Portugal and Japan in the 16^th century. The two countries exchanged ideas and products such as the chest became an example of objects that the Japanese could learn from the western countries. The interaction with the Portuguese was the first instance the country had of putting their culture and traditions for others to see, which indicated that the country’s artifacts were viable for use (Castel-Blanco & Carvalho 2). The advancements in the information were the first instance the Japanese people had of ensuring their artifacts and other art pieces were now in the western countries. This movement and exchange of cultural ideas enabled the country to form trade relations with other countries such as America. The West’s love for Asian traditions and culture led to the acquisition of the object by John Warren and the popularity of the chest among the users.

Materials

            The chest comprises various drawers and is based on Japanese lacquerware that the original users depended on to make the best possible design of the product. The Japanese lacquerware is an important tool for advancing issues with Japanese history and the concepts of ensuring the people understand the type of products available to the art audience is originally Japanese.

Showing the Japanese Lacquerware

            Japanese lacquerware is an important part of Japanese art abroad as it helps distinguish the artifacts from those originating in other countries. The use of lacquerware is an important step in developing good relations between the Japanese and the western world, who appreciate the evolution of tradition. The chest is full of Japanese lacquerware, highlighting the importance of understanding the various cultures and what materials they use to represent in the art setting. Lacquerware helps the users to appreciate the simplicity and reliability of the different Japanese artifacts since the Japanese culture is a traditionally very simple society that allows the use of different aspects of the objects they refer to as artifacts.

Purpose

            The chest is an all-purpose object mainly created and sold for the Western market to take advantage of in the long run. The object has multiple drawers that people can use to store various medicinal products and follow up on the type of traditional products that most modern products would not have. The object is an important showcase of the Japanese tradition as it incorporates the various aspects of the Japanese tradition, which was the safe storage of their products. The object was mostly for the Western market and ensuring, so it was made as a stationary product when the Gibson’s received it.

 The symbolism of Mount Fuji

            The artifacts and lacquerware are an important addition to the product, but the Mount Fuji symbol is on top of one drawer. The symbol does not fit with the other parts of the product. The placement of the mountain highlights that it was only placed there as a representation of Japan. However, the decoration did not serve any purpose, and whether it was there or not, the object would not have lost any value. The object is an example of traditional Japanese products that rely on symbols to ensure they gain the correct motivation for the product and how to showcase its powers to the people in the society effectively.

Conclusion

            The strong Japan-American relationship of the 17^th century meant that many products and objects found in Japanese art were part of the issues dealing with the different appraisals and differences in opinions about different products from Asia. The apothecary’s chest is an example of such a product that does not rely on various concepts of the relationship between the two countries to fully understand what it means and what it stands for concerning the country’s traditions. The Gibson House Museum houses the object and others from Asia that represent the culture and beautiful traditions of different Asian families.

Annotated Bibliography

Castel-Branco, Cristina, and Guida Carvalho. Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes. Springer Nature, 2019.

The writers’ main topic is the explanation of how the Japanese culture first found its way to the majority of the population of western countries. The authors highlight that the interaction with the Portuguese was an important milestone in expanding the Japanese culture in the West as the Portuguese explorers who interacted with the Japanese cultures and traditions wrote about these interactions and the Japanese culture. The source’s main strength is that it ensures the readers understand the origin of the Japanese art forms and the importance of exchanging ideas among different members of the Japanese culture with the West. The article is also an important part of ensuring it highlights how Japan looked at the time to indicate how the art objects have evolved and how they have taken into consideration various concepts of the growth of the culture as we analyze the apothecary’s chest. The limitation of the article is that it does not highlight how the Portuguese helped the Japanese with the crafting of their products which would have been important information.

Wenying, Dong, and Geng Yien. “Life Aesthetics in Japanese Civil Lacquerware and Its Enlightenment to Chinese Traditional Handicrafts.” 2nd International Conference on Language, Art and Cultural Exchange (ICLACE 2021). Atlantis Press, 2021.

The article highlights the importance of Japanese lacquerware in advancing Japanese traditions and ensuring the artifacts have enough information about Japan. The lacquerware’s characteristics are some of the main advantages that Japanese artifacts enjoy leading to the presentation of products such as the chest that allow different people to understand and appreciate the country’s traditions. The article indicates that lacquerware found in the Apothecary’s chest was an important indication of the Japanese culture and represents a different aesthetic look for people without access to information. People that rely on the artifacts’ physical appearance and materials to showcase what it entails are the most likely to understand and interpret the article in the best way possible. The advantage of the article is that it helps readers understand the importance of lacquerware to the country. Lacquerware is an important aspect of Japanese traditions, and including it as part of the chest is an example of Japanese art.