A cloisonné-enamel large rounded rectangular tray By Namikawa Sosuke (1847-1910), Meiji era (1868-1912), late 1880s-1890s
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Find your local specialistA cloisonné-enamel large rounded rectangular tray
Worked entirely in musen (wireless) enamels with a linear design of bearded purple irises on a graduated pale grey ground within a shakudo rim, the reverse worked in gilt wire enamel with numerous densely patterned cherry blossoms in pale brown on a dark plum-coloured ground; signed in silver wire with a single character Sakigake (the seal of Namikawa Sosuke). 28.8cm x 28.8cm (11¼in x 11¼in).
Footnotes
Provenance:
An English private collection, probably acquired by George Tolman Haycraft (1854-1938) in the early twentieth century, thence by descent.
One of the greatest craft entrepreneurs of the later Meiji era, Namikawa Sosuke was until recently best known in Japan for a set of 32 decorative panels commissioned for Tokyo's Akasaka Rikyu Palace, completed in 1909. These date from the last years of his very productive life, nearly three decades after he began to experiment with the technique known as musen shippo (wireless enamelling), his most enduring contribution to an art form that developed at extraordinary speed in Japan between the mid-nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century. In Chinese cloisonné enamelling, the wires separating the different areas of fused and polished enamels that made up a design also served to hold the enamels in place during the firing process, and the individual areas of colour were relatively small. Sosuke, followed shortly after by his rivals, managed to improve the chemistry of the enamels so that they adhered more securely to the metal bases of his wares, allowing him to introduce large areas of colour into his designs, although it is thought that wires between different colours still had to be painstakingly applied and removed at each stage of manufacture. Thanks to these and other technical breakthroughs, later Meiji-era enamellers were often able to emulate the effects of brush painting on paper or silk. In recognition of his achievements, in 1896 Sosuke was appointed to the order of Teishitsu Gigeiin (Artist-Craftsman to the Imperial Household).