Sparkling Japanese gems

If lacquering brings to mind visions in ebony black and blood red, then these exquisite examples prove that in the hands of a master craftsman, this ugly, intractable sap can also transform surfaces with lustrous grounds of gold and silver, and an iridescent palette of blues, pinks, purples and greens.

Unryuan is the art name of one of Japan's leading contemporary lacquer artists and translates as cloud, dragon, hermitage, hinting at a meeting of worlds ancient and modern, Eastern and Western.

Born Kitamura Tatsuo in 1952, the eldest son of a fishing family, he came to his craft relatively late in life, training first as a graphic artist and working in Tokyo until family affairs called him home to Wajima, a traditional lacquer centre.

Fascinated by this heritage, he devoted himself to reviving its ancient techniques, and 17 years ago established his own studio.

Fitting into just two cases in the museum's Toshiba gallery, the objects he creates provide an anthropological index to Japanese culture, from sake cups and tea caddies to a half-sized archery set and inru, the netsuke-toggled purses traditionally worn by men. No surface is left untouched, but Unryuan's instincts remain coolly graphic, and every embellishment, be it a spider's nest, a sumo wrestler sizing up his opponent, or even a pod of beans, belongs to a highly economical visual code representing belief and ritual.

Dramatic scenes from daily life and traditional Japanese theatre and mythology are realised with a watercolourist's light touch, detailed enough to capture the grain on a plank of wood, or individual blades of grass in a meadow, while elsewhere three-dimensional flora and fauna rise up from gilded backgrounds, and inlays of mother-of-pearl and myriad shards of shell sparkle and shimmer.

Today, many of these esoteric artefacts are virtually obsolete, and a melancholic theme threads through their titles - "autumn dusk tea caddy", "sounds of autumn writing box", an incense box adorned with "autumn drifts". As a meditation on past skill and creativity, these gemlike objects transcend their function and become art.