Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845–1927) is believed to have started his career around 1868 and originally worked with the Kinunken group of the Kyoto Shippō Kaisha from 1871: he left them in 1874 and set up own his studio. By 1875, he was exhibiting his work at national and international expositions including Philadelphia 1876, the First National Industrial Exposition Tokyo 1877, and Paris 1878 as well as at the World’s Columbian Exhibition, Chicago in 1893.

Yasuyuki’s enamel wares are characterised by the skilful use of intricate wirework and superb attention to detail, with the designs on his earlier pieces consisting mainly of stylised botanical and formal geometric motifs; much of his later work tends to be pictorial, with views of landmarks in and around Kyoto. Yasuyuki strove to improve both his technical and his artistic skills, and continued to exhibit his cloisonné wares at Japan’s National Industrial Exhibitions; in 1896 he was appointed Imperial Court Artist.

Stylistically these are very early works by Namikawa Yasuyuki and date to around 1870-75. They compare well with similar objects acquired by the V&A in 1880 and with other recognised works by Namikawa in other world collections. What is important about these vases is that we see Namikawa beginning to perfect the black enamel for which he became famous but still requiring wires for the stylised cloud patterns on the background which retain the enamel during firing. In addition, designs for similar objects are to be found in the archives of the Namikawa Yasuyuki Memorial Museum, Kyoto.