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CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL ART
Cloisonné enamelwork had been little used during the Edo period save for a number of small sword fittings by the Hirata School from the seventeenth century onwards. It was little appreciated until the late nineteenth century, when finely colored glazes were developed by the Nagoya Cloisonné Company, resulting in several prizes at the 1873 Vienna Exposition. It is well known that the German chemist Gottfried Wagener (1831-1892) assisted the cloisonné enamel artist Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927) with the coloration and quality of glazes for cloisonné work (for Namikawa Yasuyuki, see lot 142A). In 1896, Yasuyuki became an Imperial Craftsman together with Namikawa Sosuke (1847-1910). Sosuke was commissioned to make ornaments and wall furnishings for the imperial palace, hence his skill in making rectangular plaques such as the outstanding example offered here (lot 141). A handsome pair of vases with butterflies and grasses in the Khalili Collection was exhibited at the Amsterdam exposition of 1883 (for the Khalili vases, see Victor Harris, Japanese Imperial Craftsmen: Meiji Art from the Khalili Collection, exh. cat. [London: British Museum Press for Trustees of The British Museum, 1994], cat. no. 85). Both Sosuke and the Nagoya Cloisonné Company were awarded first prizes. Sosuke's particular genius lies in the perfection of a unique form of "wireless" enameling, which is partially used on lot 141. Sosuke frequently turned to the paintings of Watanabe Seitei for inspiration, and the name Seitei is sometimes found on the face of his work, whereas his own mark is more usually placed on the back. The present plaque bears a mark with the character Shu (mamoru) within a stylized character for to (higashi, or East), and is evidently the mark of a painter. As an Imperial Craftsman, Sosuke was commissioned by the Imperial Household to make pieces for both Japanese and foreign dignitaries. Such works are adorned with the sixteen-petal imperial chrysanthemum to show that they are gifts from the emperor. The names of Yasuyuki and Sosuke are numbered together with other great cloisonné-enamel artists such as Ando Jubei (lots 124 and 142), Inaba Nanaho and Kawade Shibataro. Each of the pair of cloisonné vases decorated with budding magnolia leaves by the famed Ando Jubei (lot 142) bears this imperial mark, and they are accompanied by a written attestation that they are an imperial gift.
A cloisonné enamel plaque
MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY), SEALED SAKIGAKE (WORKSHOP OF NAMIKAWA SOSUKE; 1847-1910)
Details
A cloisonné enamel plaque
Meiji period (late 19th century), sealed Sakigake (workshop of Namikawa Sosuke; 1847-1910)
Designed in gold and silver wires and partly in wireless (musen) enamels with a Black Paradise Flycatcher and peony branch on a beige ground, with an unidentified artist's seal Shu within outline of the stylized character To or Higashi, wood frame
17 x 11½in. (43.2 x 29.2cm.)
Meiji period (late 19th century), sealed Sakigake (workshop of Namikawa Sosuke; 1847-1910)
Designed in gold and silver wires and partly in wireless (musen) enamels with a Black Paradise Flycatcher and peony branch on a beige ground, with an unidentified artist's seal Shu within outline of the stylized character To or Higashi, wood frame
17 x 11½in. (43.2 x 29.2cm.)
Provenance
Previously sold Sotheby's, London, 16 November 1989, lot 771
Brought to you by
Heakyum Kim
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