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Lot Essay
These vases are on the scale of two other pairs by Namikawa Yasuyuki that also have illustrations in vertical, cusped panels on a black ground decorated with flowers and stylized floral motifs. The pair from the Avo Krikorian collection (Ht. 31.2cm, Lot 151 Christie's Zurich,19 February 2007) are believed to have been presented by the Imperial Household to the Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu in 1890 and are now in The Khalili Collection. Another pair also in the Khalili collection is illustrated as number 9 in Meiji no Takara / Treasures of Imperial Japan, The Kibo Foundation, 1994, (Ht. 31.1cm). The vases offered here represents a third pair.
In their searching exposition of Namikawa Yasuyuki in Meiji no Takara, Malcolm Fairley and Oliver Impey show details of preparatory drawings made by Nakahara Tessen (1863 -1942) published in Kyo Shippo Monyo Shu used by Namikawa for his illustrated panels, and these vases belong to the same family. In fact, the panel. These vases with a cockerel with peonies, and two birds in a cherry tree, is practically identical to one of the panels on the pair in Meiji no Takara. All three pairs of vases also have similar bands of at the foot and neck with regularly arrayed hanabishi (stylized rhomboid floral forms), and also have phoenix and dragon motifs. Fairley and Impey point out that the panels depict scenes with distinct ground and sky whereas formerly Namikawa's earlier illustrations were in panels on a plain colored ground. This indicates Namikawa's transition to a more naturalistic style around the time of the World's Columbia Exposition Chicago in 1893. It is most likely that these vases date from around that time.
In their searching exposition of Namikawa Yasuyuki in Meiji no Takara, Malcolm Fairley and Oliver Impey show details of preparatory drawings made by Nakahara Tessen (1863 -1942) published in Kyo Shippo Monyo Shu used by Namikawa for his illustrated panels, and these vases belong to the same family. In fact, the panel. These vases with a cockerel with peonies, and two birds in a cherry tree, is practically identical to one of the panels on the pair in Meiji no Takara. All three pairs of vases also have similar bands of at the foot and neck with regularly arrayed hanabishi (stylized rhomboid floral forms), and also have phoenix and dragon motifs. Fairley and Impey point out that the panels depict scenes with distinct ground and sky whereas formerly Namikawa's earlier illustrations were in panels on a plain colored ground. This indicates Namikawa's transition to a more naturalistic style around the time of the World's Columbia Exposition Chicago in 1893. It is most likely that these vases date from around that time.