Small sized, Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) namban fall front cabinet. Of parallelepiped design and eight inner drawers, it has been dated, based on its ornamental characteristics, to the first quarter of the 17th century.Black lacquered (urushi-e) and of evident European prototype, it is decorated in hira-maqui-e with inlaid mother-of-pearl (raden), two techniques that are typical of namban period (1573-1639) Japanese export lacquers. The metal fittings, handles, corner pieces and lock escutcheons, are gilt copper.In terms of the cabinet’s decorative motifs, reflecting ancestral practices from Japanese traditional arts, they are defined by geometric and botanical elements in various patterns covering the entirety of its outer surfaces.The frontal, lateral and upper panels are profusely ornamented with two types of geometric motifs. In the large central ground, encased by double mother-of-pearl filleting, the Japanese seven jewels decorative pattern, imported from China. According to the Indian tradition, this motif is related to the Great Universal Monarch, Chakravarty, and to the Master of the Sacred Domains, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. In Japan it is also associated to the Seven Gods of Fortune and known as shippomon. Framing this central composition, a wide mother-of-pearl and maki-e band, filled by ichimatsu, a repeating pattern of juxtaposed squares, alternating mother-of-pearl and painted stylized hemp flowers, alluding to vows of prosperity for one’s descendants and good luck in business.Lowering the fall-front exposes a group of drawers centred by a lockable rectangular compartment, whose front is decorated by an arch resting on a pair of classical European style columns, and gentian flowers (Rindo). On the drawer faces, large Paulownia foliage scrolls, trimmed by single mother-of-pearl thread, and framed by the Uroko pattern representative of fish scales, a motif often used by Samurai as an amulet against evil.From the exposed inner writing surface and rear panel, stands out a large Paulownia foliage scroll, encased by continuous mother-of-pearl frame and wide band of motifs analogous to seven jewels.For its specificities, this writing box is an excellent example of the syncretism that developed, between the late 16th and the first quarter of the 17th century, from the meeting of western and Japanese cultures, evidence clearly illustrated by its European shape and traditional Japanese art ornamentation allusive to autochthonous popular traditions, to Buddhism and to Shintoism.Considering its rare format, this writing box could be one of the last objects made for exporting before the Sakoku, the “Closure of Country” period, in which only the Dutch were allowed to remain in Japan, and even so circumscribed to the small island of Dejima, off the coast of Nagasaki, all the other foreign merchants having been expelled.