MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY), SIGNED OJU KAZUNORI HO (FUKAWA KAZUNORI II; 1855-1919)

This vase shows the artist’s technical excellence and creative vision in the free approach to design, perhaps best seen in the great swathe of wisteria in katakiri-bori and hirazogan in which the flowers and leaves glow like brush painting.
Born in Tokyo, Fukawa Kazunori II (Keizaburo) learned metalwork, cloisonne and painting from his father Fukawa Kazunori I (Juzaburo), the third son of the famous dramatist Gohensha Hanku. He was appointed as a professor at the Japan Art Institute (Nihon Bijutsu-in) in 1898.
For a sword guard by the same artist showing similar techniques, see Nezu Museum, Pinnacle of Elegance: Sword Fittings of the Mitsumura Colelction (Tokyo: Nezu Museum, 2017), no. 187.