Pair of vases, Cloisonné enamel on a copper body with gilt rims, attributed to Namikawa Sosuke (1847-1910), Japan, c.1880

Pair of cloisonné enamelled vases with decoration of fruit and leaves.

Purchased by the Edwin Davies Fund

A pair of similar vases (larger, but with slight damage) in the Khalili Collection (Ref. E.19: published in 'Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan', Cat.83) were exhibited by Sosuke on behalf of the Nagoya Cloisonné Company at the 1883 Amsterdam Exhibition. These are the earliest attributable works by Sosuke and, as with our vases, clearly show the early use of shosen (limited wire) enamels in conjunction with shaded cloisonné enamels, a technique for which Sosuke claimed credit. Sosuke later further developed this technique into musen (wireless) enamels which took their inspiration from Japanese ink paintings and woodblock printed books of scenes of birds and flowers.

Yet another pair of vases in the Japanese Imperial Collection, Sannomaru Shozokan, dated to 1889 and produced by the Nagoya Cloisonné Company, is very similar to both the Khalili vases and ours in technique, decoration and colouring.

The vases are attributed to Namikawa Sosuke who originally worked for the Nagoya Cloisonné Company but around 1880 moved to run the branch of their company in Tokyo. Sosuke was an active contributor to both national and international expositions: he won prizes at the Universal Exposition, Amsterdam in 1883, at the Nuremberg International Metalwork Exhibition in 1885, and at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, in 1889. In 1896 Sosuke was appointed Imperial Craftsman to the Emperor Meiji and was one of the most important and influential artist-craftsmen of the Meiji period (1868- 1912).

FE.240-2011