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Lot Essay
The engraved dedication on the base of each vase states that they were presented to Baron Morimura Kaisaku (Ichizaemon VII) by the Oji Streetcar Company (Oji Denki Kido Kabushiki Kaisha) in December 1927. Morimura Kaisaku was the second son of Morimura Ichitaro (Ichizaemon VI; 1837-1919), co-founder with his brother Toyo (d. 1899) of Morimura Brothers (Morimura Kumi). Morimura Brothers prospered from a ceramics exporter and merchant bank into the international concern it is today with interests in banking, raw materials for ceramics, chemicals, metals, plastic and construction. The firm began as a trading company under the visionary Ichizaemon VI, equally known for his business accomplishments, Christian ethics and his philanthropy, including underwriting institutions for the advancement of Japanese women. Ichizaemon VI was the first Baron Morimura, elevated to the peerage by the Taisho emperor in 1915. His son, Kaisaku, succeeded to the name Ichizaemon in 1928, soon after the company’s fiftieth anniversary in 1926. Kaisaku’s wife, Ume, was a daughter of Viscount Inoue Masaru (1843-1910).
In the 1880s, Morimura Brothers opened Hinode Shokai, a store selling Japanese curios and decorative wares, in New York City. A trip to the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris convinced Ichizaemon VI to switch from retail to upscale wholesale ceramics, forming, in 1904 on Noritake Island near Nagoya, the Nippon Toki Kaisha (Japan Ceramic Company), the forerunner of the modern-day Noritake tableware company. The donor of these vases also has had a long history since 1911 and exists, in extended form, as the one surviving tram line in Tokyo, the Token Arakawa Line.
The artist responsible for the masterful chiseling on these vases is Unno Kiyoshi, an Imperial Court Artist (Teishitsu Gigeiin) and “Living National Treasure” (Important Intangible Cultural Asset; Juyo Mukei) as of 1955.
In the 1880s, Morimura Brothers opened Hinode Shokai, a store selling Japanese curios and decorative wares, in New York City. A trip to the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris convinced Ichizaemon VI to switch from retail to upscale wholesale ceramics, forming, in 1904 on Noritake Island near Nagoya, the Nippon Toki Kaisha (Japan Ceramic Company), the forerunner of the modern-day Noritake tableware company. The donor of these vases also has had a long history since 1911 and exists, in extended form, as the one surviving tram line in Tokyo, the Token Arakawa Line.
The artist responsible for the masterful chiseling on these vases is Unno Kiyoshi, an Imperial Court Artist (Teishitsu Gigeiin) and “Living National Treasure” (Important Intangible Cultural Asset; Juyo Mukei) as of 1955.