Suzannah Yip
Department Director
Lot 287Ф,Y
An important and fine pair of matching cloisonné-enamel ovoid vases
By Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927), circa 1897
12 November 2015, 14:30 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £68,500 inc. premium
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An important and fine pair of matching cloisonné-enamel ovoid vases
By Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927), circa 1897
Delicately worked in silver wire of varying gauge with an identical design, each vase decorated with a horizontal formation of tightly clustered flowering white and purple wisteria draped across with green paulownia leaves, trailing from the upper body and extending downwards, above four varieties of chrysanthemums, including yellow Mino giku, pale red-colour kogiku, and red ringiku issuing from the foot, the rim, neck and shoulder of each vase decorated with repeat chrysanthemum heads and other foliate motifs, all reserved on a midnight-blue ground; the base of each vase signed with chiselled cursive characters on a silver plaque Kyoto Namikawa, each applied with a silver rim and foot; with two separate ivory bases. Each vase 16.8cm x 7.5cm (6 5/8in x 3in). (4).
Delicately worked in silver wire of varying gauge with an identical design, each vase decorated with a horizontal formation of tightly clustered flowering white and purple wisteria draped across with green paulownia leaves, trailing from the upper body and extending downwards, above four varieties of chrysanthemums, including yellow Mino giku, pale red-colour kogiku, and red ringiku issuing from the foot, the rim, neck and shoulder of each vase decorated with repeat chrysanthemum heads and other foliate motifs, all reserved on a midnight-blue ground; the base of each vase signed with chiselled cursive characters on a silver plaque Kyoto Namikawa, each applied with a silver rim and foot; with two separate ivory bases. Each vase 16.8cm x 7.5cm (6 5/8in x 3in). (4).
Footnotes
Provenance: an English private collection.
Compare a very similarly decorated larger cloisonné vase by Namikawa in the collection of the Namikawa Cloisonné Museum of Kyoto, published and illustrated in Shippo: Iro to saimitsu no sekai (Japanese Cloisonné: a World of Colour and Exquisite Detail), Tokyo, Lixil Gallery, 2009, p.6.
The shita-e (preliminary design) for these vases, reproduced here, was hand-drawn in 1897 by Nakahara Tessen (1863-1942) of Kyoto who designed patterns for important cloisonné-enamel pieces, see Yoshida Mitsukuni and Nakahara Kenji, Nakahara Tessen; Kyo shippo monyo-shu (Nakahara Tessen's Design Sketches for Cloisonne-enamel), Kyoto, Tankosha, 1981, p.92.
Born in 1845 to a rural samurai family, Namikawa Yasuyuki started his cloisonné business in Kyoto in 1873 and by the 1880s was successful enough to build, and then extend and upgrade, a large compound that eventually included workshops housing 20 or more employees, a showroom, a family residence and a garden with a fishpond. He used these facilities to create a carefully orchestrated private retail experience that was described in admiring detail by American and European travel writers, selling many of his finest wares directly to private clients, as well as carrying out imperial commissions and participating in international expositions. Between 1876 and 1904 he won 11 overseas awards and in 1896, along with his unrelated namesake the Tokyo enameler Namikawa Sosuke (the two family names are written with different characters), was among the first individuals to be appointed to the ranks of Teishitsu Gigeiin (Artist-Craftsmen to the Imperial Household). Such was his reputation that at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle his wares were snapped up the moment they were unpacked and sold for up to ten times the amount anticipated. For a detailed biography of Namikawa Yasuyuki see Frederic T Schneider, The Art of Japanese Cloisonné Enamel: History, Techniques and Artists, 1600 to the Present, Jefferson NC, McFarland, 2010, pp.86–87.