Lot n° 223
Estimation :
5000 - 6000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 12 800EUR
Large Painted and Richly Decorated Wooden... - Lot 223 - Ader
Large Painted and Richly Decorated Wooden Rickshaw with Black Leather Hood, the Interior Upholstered in Silk Embroidered with Floral Designs, Indochina or Japan Decorated in Indochina, late 19th century
[rickshaw].
Ornamented on each side with two carved, openwork and applied wooden panels painted in red and yellow; the first decorated with a four-clawed dragon among double gourds and other Taoist symbols, the second decorated with a phoenix in flight among stylized clouds in a medallion framed by a kui dragon and bat border. The back of the rickshaw, where a long handle is attached, is decorated with a large shou sign in relief, painted in yellow and red and underlined by a green line, framed by a border in relief of kui dragons, scrolls, foliage, pompom embraces and a dragon head. The inner seat and its perimeter are upholstered in beige silk embroidered with various polychrome flowers, peonies, lotus flowers and bunches of grapes. The silk is edged with a studded braid. The box under this seat shows two panels decorated with tiger heads, the front legs resting in rings formed by leafy volutes. The hood is made of black leather on the outside and yellow silk embroidered with beige peonies on the inside. The natural wooden floor rises slightly to the top at the junction with the arms, where two small stylized tiger heads are carved, and rests on two small feet with casters. The two arms of the rickshaw are connected at their ends and each ends in a brass ball. The wheels are made of wood painted in red and yellow and ringed with iron.
Height with hood: 203 cm - folded hood: 180cm x L 260 cm x W 110 cm; wheel diameter: 108 cm
Wear and tear, especially on the silk.
Provenance:
Brought back by Mr. D., a customs official stationed in Indochina between the two wars and kept in the family since.
The rickshaw originated in Japan in the second half of the 19th century, it is called 人力&車, jinrikisha, literally "human power vehicle". To clearly attribute an inventor to him remains hypothetical but we know with certainty that Daisuke Akiba, from a family of horse equipment merchants, was the first to make attractive rickshaws suitable for a new wealthy clientele around the 3rd and 4th years of the Meiji era, i.e. 1870-1871. It was a great success and from 1875 his company started an important export campaign enlarging its market to Singapore, India, China but also to the British or French colonies and notably Indochina.
Some writings testify to the arrival of the rickshaw in the 1880s in Indochina with notably the authorization of the French authorities to import rickshaws from Japan as early as 1884.
Paul Boudet, administrator and librarian in Indochina, writes in the preface of Hanoi during the heroic period (1873-1888) by André Masson: "As cars can now come and go on the road, at the initiative of Resident Raoul-Jean-Thomas Bonnal in 1884, two jinrikisha rickshaws were imported from Japan, and one of them was given to the governor". The rickshaw became the means of transportation for the French and Indochinese rulers as well as for a whole elite. Shortly after, aware of the potential of this means of transport, a French car manufacturer based in Hanoi also started to manufacture about fifty rickshaws for Tonkin. A customs clerk coming from Cochinchina had the idea to create the first rental company of this new vehicle.
Daisuke Akiba died in 1894 but his succession was assured and the trade was flourishing, 200 000 rickshaws were in circulation in Japan and the number of manufacturers reached its peak in 1897. However, a few years later, the domestic market was running out of steam and Daisuke Akiba II started to travel and participated in the Hanoi International Exhibition in 1902 where he exhibited a model. The end of the 1910s and the appearance of new means of locomotion will sound the decline of the traditional rickshaw.
The rickshaw that we present in this sale is most certainly a commissioned piece. The large wooden wheels and iron rings allow us to place it among the oldest models. It could have been ordered in Japan, and be part of the first models imported from 1883, then decorated in Indochina, but it could also have been manufactured by a French company pioneer within the protectorate.
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