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

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

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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Vase with chrysanthemums and a butterfly

  • Literature notes

    Small vase of meiping shape with chrysanthemums and a butterfly in cut silver and enamel on a pale blue ground. Signed: Kyōto Namikawa stamped in the silver base.

    In 1903, Yasuyuki's sole entry in the Fifth National Domestic Exposition was a small brush-pot; what confidence! Of this, the judges commented "the few delicate bamboos look as if they were brush-strokes on a dark purple ground, and each leaf is carved as if it were a brushstroke". In other words, as can be seen here, Yasuyuki has shaped the 'wire' in almost a reversal of the cloisonné technique, so that the wire becomes a major part of the picture instead of merely outlining the picture. This is the logical next step after the shaping of the wire seen in [EA1988.1].
  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaJapanHonshūKyōto prefecture Kyoto (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1903
    Artist/maker
    workshop of Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845 - 1927)
    Material and technique
    metal, with applied cut silver, and inlaid with silver wire cloisonné enamel
    Dimensions
    9.2 cm (height)
    4.1 cm (diameter)
    Material index
    Technique index
    cut,
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased with the assistance of the Story Fund, 2000.
    Accession no.
    EA2000.48
  • Further reading

    Impey, Oliver, and Joyce Seaman, Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period 1868-1912, Ashmolean Handbooks (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2005), no. 36 on p. 76, pp. 8, 22, & 74, illus. pp. 76-77

Glossary

cloisonné

  • cloisonné

    Decorative technique in which wires are attached to a metal body and coloured enamels are applied between the wires.

Location

    • Second floor | Room 36 | Japan

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Publications online

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

    Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period

    Small vase of meiping shape with chrysanthemums and a butterfly in cut silver and enamel on a pale blue ground. Signed: Kyōto Namikawa stamped in the silver base.

    In 1903, Yasuyuki's sole entry in the Fifth National Domestic Exposition was a small brush-pot; what confidence! Of this, the judges commented "the few delicate bamboos look as if they were brush-strokes on a dark purple ground, and each leaf is carved as if it were a brushstroke". In other words, as can be seen here, Yasuyuki has shaped the 'wire' in almost a reversal of the cloisonné technique, so that the wire becomes a major part of the picture instead of merely outlining the picture. This is the logical next step after the shaping of the wire seen in [EA1988.1].
Notice

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