A gilded or painted frame presents a finished border, but its corners have a separate construction. Tokyo’s traditional-frame reference specifies reinforcement of mitred joints for both Japanese-style and Western-style frames.
Technique and structure
A mitre brings the angled ends of frame members together. The Tokyo specification calls for wedges or chigiri joint keys to reinforce the outer frame’s mitres. It then describes finishing separately: a Japanese-style frame may have hand-applied refined urushi, leaf applied over an urushi ground, or a wood finish using tonoko powder followed by wax polishing. The corner reinforcement belongs to assembly; the visible coating or leaf belongs to the surface. One cannot be identified merely by naming the other.
Ask about the joint before the colour
The reference lists sugi, hinoki, cherry, magnolia or equivalent woods. That is a traditional material range, not identification of a particular frame. A useful commission enquiry separates the frame’s wood, its corner reinforcement and its finish rather than treating a gold-coloured surface as the whole specification.
For international readers
Confirm construction and finish with the actual maker. This account does not establish a frame’s load capacity, conservation suitability or cleaning method.
Global shipping and buying
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日本語
東京額縁：仕上げの下にある留接ぎと補強
東京都の額縁資料は、和額・洋額の外縁などの留接ぎをクサビや千切で補強すると規定しています。和額の漆塗り、箔押し、砥の粉引き後のろう磨きは別の仕上げ工程です。見える色と、角を組む構造を分けて確認するための解説です。