Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period

A catalogue of the Ashmolean’s Japanese decorative arts from the Meiji period (1868-1912), by Oliver Impey and Joyce Seaman (published Oxford, 2005).

Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period 1868-1912 by Oliver Impey and Joyce Seaman

Publications online: 54 objects

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Lobed dish with a Chinese warrior

  • Literature notes

    Bronze, gold and silver lobbed dish with central relief panel of a bearded Chinese warrior in shakudō, silver and gold nunome-zōgan. The body of the dish with layers of radiating petal-shapes similarly inlaid in gold nunome-zōgan in various geometric patterns and scattered cherry blossoms and butterflies, the ground with silver stars, the border with vines. Signed on the reverse: Nihon koku Kyōto jū Komai sei.

    The Komai Company was one of the specialist metalworking companies that descended from a sword-fitting company. Originally founded in 1841, the company did not start to make the inlaid works for which the company drew its reputation until the time of the founder’s grandson, Komai Otojirō I (1842-1917), at around the time when the wearing of swords was banned in Meiji Japan in 1876. The company’s name rarely appears in Exposition catalogues because of an agreement with the important commissioning company of Ikeda Seisuke, under whose name any Komai objects would be exhibited. His shop was first in Shinmonzen and later in Furumonzen, the haunts of foreign clients in Kyōto.

    The company specialized in the making of bronze vases and dishes inlaid in zōgan technique in gold and silver. Dishes characteristically have a central motif with a large figure design, surrounded by pattern-making inlays, and frequently bordered by a vine pattern.
  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaJapanHonshūKyōto prefecture Kyoto (Komai Company) (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1885
    Artist/maker
    Komai Company (c. 1841 - 1916) (manufacturer)
    Material and technique
    bronze, inlaid with gold and silver, and with shakudō, silver, and gold nunome decoration
    Dimensions
    3.5 cm (height)
    33.5 cm max. (diameter)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased with the assistance of the Story Fund, 1995.
    Accession no.
    EA1995.116
  • Further reading

    Impey, Oliver, and Joyce Seaman, Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period 1868-1912, Ashmolean Handbooks (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2005), no. 25 on p. 54, illus. pp. 54-55

Glossary

shakudō

  • shakudō

    alloy of copper and gold, patinated to a dark blue-black colour

Location

    • Second floor | Room 36 | Japan

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period 1868-1912 by Oliver Impey and Joyce Seaman

    Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period

    Bronze, gold and silver lobbed dish with central relief panel of a bearded Chinese warrior in shakudō, silver and gold nunome-zōgan. The body of the dish with layers of radiating petal-shapes similarly inlaid in gold nunome-zōgan in various geometric patterns and scattered cherry blossoms and butterflies, the ground with silver stars, the border with vines. Signed on the reverse: Nihon koku Kyōto jū Komai sei.

    The Komai Company was one of the specialist metalworking companies that descended from a sword-fitting company. Originally founded in 1841, the company did not start to make the inlaid works for which the company drew its reputation until the time of the founder’s grandson, Komai Otojirō I (1842-1917), at around the time when the wearing of swords was banned in Meiji Japan in 1876. The company’s name rarely appears in Exposition catalogues because of an agreement with the important commissioning company of Ikeda Seisuke, under whose name any Komai objects would be exhibited. His shop was first in Shinmonzen and later in Furumonzen, the haunts of foreign clients in Kyōto.

    The company specialized in the making of bronze vases and dishes inlaid in zōgan technique in gold and silver. Dishes characteristically have a central motif with a large figure design, surrounded by pattern-making inlays, and frequently bordered by a vine pattern.
Notice

Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.

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