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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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Hexagonal baluster vase with flowers and birds

  • Literature notes

    A pair of Shibayama vases of hexagonal baluster shape in gold lacquer, the rims lined in silver, the neck with raised lacquer flowers and leaves on a matt gold ground and with cloisonné enamel collars. The body with ovoid panels foliated at the top, of inlays of flowers and birds in high relief in pearl-shell, coral and ivory reserved on a hirame ground, the feet of spear form. Signature: Masaaki (on pearly inset on base).

    Very little in known of the makers of this, the Shibayama technique of inlays of a wide variety of materials into lacquer or ivory. The product of quite large workshops, the quality of inlay varies quite as much as does that of cloisonné; here the quality is very fine. Sometimes outworkers were used to supply standard cutout figures of, say, mandarin ducks, which then could be incorporated into almost any picture; curiously, there seems to be no falling-off of quality in the case of such outworking, but no doubt this, too, varied.

    The technique may derive remotely from the work of Ritsuō (Ogawa Haritsu, 1663-1747), but does not seem to have been consolidated until the early Meiji period, when Shibayama Senzō won a prize in the First National Industrial Exposition in 1879. Little in known of the subsequent history of the Shibayama family, though the names of several members can be found on high quality objects made in the technique.
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1890
    Artist/maker
    Masaaki (active end of the 19th century)
    Material and technique
    wood, covered in gold lacquer; cloisonné enamel collars; panels with hirame lacquer decoration, and inlaid with pearl shell, coral, and ivory (Shibayama lacquer technique); silver mounts
    Dimensions
    31 x 13 x 13 cm max. (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    organicvegetal wood,
    organicvegetalresin lacquer,
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by the Khalili Family Collection of Japanese Art, in honour of Dr Oliver Impey, 2000.
    Accession no.
    EA2000.5.b
  • Further reading

    Impey, Oliver, and Joyce Seaman, Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period 1868-1912, Ashmolean Handbooks (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2005), no. 50 on p. 104, p. 9, illus. pp. 104-105

Glossary (3)

cloisonné, hirame, lacquer

  • cloisonné

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

  • hirame

    irregularly shaped flakes of gold or silver made by flattening metal filings and scattered onto wet lacquer

  • lacquer

    Chinese and Japanese lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, which is indigenous to Eastern China. It is applied to wood as a varnish or for decorative effect. In India and the Middle East, lacquer is made from the deposit of the lac insect.

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

    A pair of Shibayama vases of hexagonal baluster shape in gold lacquer, the rims lined in silver, the neck with raised lacquer flowers and leaves on a matt gold ground and with cloisonné enamel collars. The body with ovoid panels foliated at the top, of inlays of flowers and birds in high relief in pearl-shell, coral and ivory reserved on a hirame ground, the feet of spear form. Signature: Masaaki (on pearly inset on base).

    Very little in known of the makers of this, the Shibayama technique of inlays of a wide variety of materials into lacquer or ivory. The product of quite large workshops, the quality of inlay varies quite as much as does that of cloisonné; here the quality is very fine. Sometimes outworkers were used to supply standard cutout figures of, say, mandarin ducks, which then could be incorporated into almost any picture; curiously, there seems to be no falling-off of quality in the case of such outworking, but no doubt this, too, varied.

    The technique may derive remotely from the work of Ritsuō (Ogawa Haritsu, 1663-1747), but does not seem to have been consolidated until the early Meiji period, when Shibayama Senzō won a prize in the First National Industrial Exposition in 1879. Little in known of the subsequent history of the Shibayama family, though the names of several members can be found on high quality objects made in the technique.
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