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Two groups of cloisonné enamels are offered here. The first consists of 24 examples from a private American collection, including a Namikawa Yasuyuki double-gourd vase with butterflies in wisteria and bees around the shoulder (lot 266) identical to a pair in the Tokyo National Museum that was purchased right after the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. The second group consists of 16 examples formerly in the collection of the Shosenkyo Ropeway Cloisonné Art Museum, now closed, in Kofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The ropeway is an attraction that was built to cross the Mitake Shosenkyo Gorge on the Arakawa River.
There are works from all of the major enamel studios of the late Meiji and Taisho periods: Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927) in Kyoto, Namikawa Sosuke (1847-1910) in Tokyo, and Ando Jubei (1876-1953), Hayashi Kodenji 1831-1915) and Inaba Nanaho (1850-1931). They demonstrate changes in style within the Namikawa workshops, including an example of the first appearance of double wires used to emphasize heavier outlines and some examples of the late wireless technique featuring unusual colored grounds.
PROPERTY OF AN AMERICAN COLLECTOR
A Cloisonné Enamel Vase
MEIJI PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)
Details
A Cloisonné Enamel Vase
Meiji period (19th century)
Of baluster form enameled in various colors with lappets containing dragons and phoenixes on goldstone grounds against a black background, the shoulders designed with panels of butterflies and chrysanthemums above a band of scrolling flowers and geometric floral diaper patterns also highlighted with goldstone, the bands around the neck and foot of the vase designed with phoenixes and paulownia below a diaper band around the upright rim; mounts shakudo
14½in. (36.8cm.) high
Meiji period (19th century)
Of baluster form enameled in various colors with lappets containing dragons and phoenixes on goldstone grounds against a black background, the shoulders designed with panels of butterflies and chrysanthemums above a band of scrolling flowers and geometric floral diaper patterns also highlighted with goldstone, the bands around the neck and foot of the vase designed with phoenixes and paulownia below a diaper band around the upright rim; mounts shakudo
14½in. (36.8cm.) high