Producer unknown to us
Bookshelf (Shodana)
Asia, Japan
End of 19th century
Wood, paint, copper alloy
Stephan Lürmann (art dealer)
Purchased by the museum from Lürmann in 1919
OAs 13072 a, b
Low bookshelves, shodana or zushidana, which were adapted to the Japanese way of living on floor mats, originally served as storage for religious scriptures in Buddhist monasteries. With the introduction of the letterpress to Korea in the late 16th century and the emergence of extensive literature for the educated upper class, they became increasingly common in studies and reading cabinets of the educated Japanese upper class.
The two smaller integrated cabinets provide stability for the shelf.
J. Stephan Lürman was an art dealer who was involved in the import and sale of Japanese art products, especially from the 1910s to the mid-1920s. He sold art objects to private individuals and museums throughout Germany. On five different occasions, after 1909, Leipzig ethnological museum purchased objects from him.
Dietmar Grundmann