Not currently on display at the V&A

Vase

c.1900 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The vase, of typical Chinese shape, comprises a copper body with applied silver rim and base plate. It is decorated in a combination of silver yusen, shosen and musen enamels with a mountainous landscape. The scene includes a temple partly hidden by a foreground of pine trees and rocks. Around the rocks and trees is a raging torrent with mountain peaks rising out of the mist in the background. The subtle decoration is in the style of a Chinese landscape painting, perhaps following the 'blue-green' tradition of artists such as Qiu Ying (1494-1552) who in turn influenced Japanese painters such as Tani (1763-1841). Buncho is known for his work in the Nanga (literally 'Southern Painting') Chinese style. The design has been executed in varying shades of blue, green and red shaded enamels on a yellow-green enamel ground. The base contains the mark of the Ando Company (in a rather loose style) in silver yusen.

The vase also reproduces a type of Chinese porcelain known in English as 'eggshell' and in Chinese as qianjiang, which became widespread during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This vase is evidence that there was a rapid transfer of styles and influences between China and Japan at that time. It has been suggested that the vase was made by Mr Okumura, who worked for the Ando Company (private communication with Inaba Katsumi). There is a pair of vases similarly style decorated by Gonda Hirosuke in the collection of the Shosenkyo Cloisonné Museum in Kofu (Shosenkyo Ropeway Cloisonné Art Museum, pp 18/19).


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Stand
  • Vase
Materials and techniques
The body of the vase is copper with an applied silver rim and silver base-plate. The ground of the vase has been hammered to give a <i>nanako</i> (fish-roe) effect. While the fish have been formed through a combination of <i>tsuiki-jippo</i> (when a design is hammered onto the body and then covered with foil followed by a layer of enamel) and <i>tomei-jippo </i>(when translucent or transparent enamel is applied over a layer of metal which can be seen through the enamel coating).
Brief description
Cloisonné enamel vase with decoration of a Chinese landsacape, mark of the Ando Company, Nagoya, Japan, c.1900.
Physical description
Cloisonné enamel vase with decoration of a Chinese landsacape. The body of the vase is copper with an applied silver rim and silver base-plate.
Dimensions
  • Height: 25cm
  • Width: 10cm
Content description
mountainous landscape
Marks and inscriptions
(Mark of the Ando Company.)
Credit line
Given by Edwin Davies
Summary
The vase, of typical Chinese shape, comprises a copper body with applied silver rim and base plate. It is decorated in a combination of silver yusen, shosen and musen enamels with a mountainous landscape. The scene includes a temple partly hidden by a foreground of pine trees and rocks. Around the rocks and trees is a raging torrent with mountain peaks rising out of the mist in the background. The subtle decoration is in the style of a Chinese landscape painting, perhaps following the 'blue-green' tradition of artists such as Qiu Ying (1494-1552) who in turn influenced Japanese painters such as Tani (1763-1841). Buncho is known for his work in the Nanga (literally 'Southern Painting') Chinese style. The design has been executed in varying shades of blue, green and red shaded enamels on a yellow-green enamel ground. The base contains the mark of the Ando Company (in a rather loose style) in silver yusen.

The vase also reproduces a type of Chinese porcelain known in English as 'eggshell' and in Chinese as qianjiang, which became widespread during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This vase is evidence that there was a rapid transfer of styles and influences between China and Japan at that time. It has been suggested that the vase was made by Mr Okumura, who worked for the Ando Company (private communication with Inaba Katsumi). There is a pair of vases similarly style decorated by Gonda Hirosuke in the collection of the Shosenkyo Cloisonné Museum in Kofu (Shosenkyo Ropeway Cloisonné Art Museum, pp 18/19).
Bibliographic reference
Japanese cloisonne Irvine, Gregory. Japanese Cloisonné. (London:V&A Publications, 2006), p. 56.
Other number
ED 222 - Edwin Davies collection number
Collection
Accession number
FE.17:1, 2-2011

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Record createdFebruary 9, 2011
Record URL
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