SIGNED IMURA, MEIJI PERIOD (1878-83)

Details

An Interesting Enamelled Porcelain Plaque
Signed Imura, Meiji Period (1878-83)
The vertical porcelain plaque decorated in grey and black enamels with a mountain landscape of crags, a waterfall, a river, a bridge, a boat and willows, signed and sealed Shoun for the design; the reverse unglazed, modelled with two recessed apertures for mounting the plaque, signed Dainihon Yokohama Imura seizo [made by Imura of Yokohama in great Japan], minor chip to reverse
15 13/16 x 9 5/8in. (40.2 x 24.5cm.)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

Originally an oil merchant, the dealer/exporter Imura Hikojiro of 22 Honcho Dori, Yokohama, became interested in the flourishing Tokyo etsuke (ceramic-painting aimed at export) trade and set up a business in Yokohama in about 1878. It is said that he came to own no less than four factories, with more than thirty ceramic-painters and over 200 workers. See Hida Toyojiro 'Exporters of Meiji Decorative Arts', in Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley (eds.), The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art (London, 1995), vol. 1, Selected Essays, pp. 70-95, especially p. 88 and Kanagawa Prefectural Museum (ed.), Yokohama dohanga [Yokohama prints], p. 224.

The name Shoun was used by the third of the Shimizu (Kiyomizu) Rokubei line of artists, who died in 1883. See Laurance P. Roberts, A Dictionary of Japanese Artists (Tokyo and New York, 1976), pp. 130-1.

More from JAPANESE ART AND DESIGN

View All