ANDO MARK, MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY)

This fine pair of vases is an excellent example of the new style of decoration which developed in several different media toward the end of the Meiji period (1868-1912). The trend towards greater simplification and a more harmonious relationship between form and motif started to emerge around 1895, when judges at the Fourth National Industrial Exposition commented that a vase by Namikawa Yasuyuki demonstrated a shift from traditional motifs towards 'a picture far beyond a mere pattern'. However, it was not until the very early years of the twentieth century, after the Japanese displays at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle had been criticised for their failure to move with international taste, that both designers and art-bureaucrats moved decisively towards the more open and elegant style of decoration seen here. These two vases reflect the influence of French art nouveau (itself, ironically, originally inspired by Japanese art) and it is interesting to note that a similar pottery piece, obtained by the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) in 1900, displays a similar design and concept.1 In the particular case of enamels, technical advances in the adhesion of the enamels to the body meant that from around 1900 or so it was possible to leave large areas of uninterrupted background colour.

1. Victoria and Albert Museum, Art Nouveau (London, 2000), p. 205