Superb Japanese Enamel Butterfly Hikite / Door Pull Handle. Circa 1850.

Superb Japanese Antique Enamel Butterfly Hikite / Door Pull Handle. Circa 1850 (possibly earlier).

Lovely little handle with finely enameled butterflies, with further debossed /recessed indentations (where the design sits below the material's surface) simulating further insects. The small size of this hikite suggests it may have been affixed to a small sliding panel or cupboard door. In traditional Japanese architecture, a hikite is a flush, recessed circular or rectangular form door pull inset into sliding doors (fusuma or shoji). Because Japanese sliding doors pass right next to each other in wooden tracks, protruding doorknobs or handles cannot be used, and this beautiful item would have been sunken-in flush to the panel.

Condition: Excellent original condition. Enamel work fully intact. Vivid colours in red, green, yellow and white enamel. Excellent patina. Museum / collection number (115) to reverse.

Dimensions:

Height = 5.2 cm

Width: 3.6 cm

Depth : 0.8 cm