Meiji Golden Age cloisonné enamels, Japan

Thank you to History of Cloisonné in Japan. In Japan, enamelling was employed primarily on ar­chitectural fittings eg door-pulls and to decorate small ob­jects. The sam­ur­ai needed fine decoration of sword guards.

But the passion for Japanese cloisonné manufacture is credited to Na­goya’s samurai, Kaji Tsunekichi (1803-83). In c1838 he took apart some Chinese cloisonné enamel to exam­ine how it was made, then prod­uced a small cloisonné enamelled dish. By mid-1850s he accepted pupils and by the late 1850s was appoint­ed official cloisonné maker to Owar­i’s feudal chief. He based his designs on motifs and colour-schemes of Chinese cloisonné enamels; his early works showed the use of a larger number of background wires. These were decorative and prac­tical.

His pupil Hayashi Shōgorō (d1896) and Tsukamoto Kaisuke (1828-87) were later masters of cloisonné enamelling. Kaisuke discovered (c1868) the technique of applying clois­onné enamels to a ceramic vessel. Kaisuke in turn taught Hayashi Kod­enji (1831-1915), a craftsman who became one of the most influential of cloisonné makers. Kodenji then set up an independent cloisonné work­shop in Nagoya in 1862.

In 1871 the Nagoya Cloisonné Co. was established at Toshima. Note that their technological advances resulted in the company winning a first prize at the 1873 Vienna Exhibition. Many cloisonné-manufacturing com­p­an­ies emerged and Toshima aka Cloisonné town rapidly became Japan’s main centre of clois­onné production. The cloisonné manufactories of Tōshima were producing 70% of all cloisonné enamels in Japan.

By 1875 Kaisuke left Nagoya to become the chief foreman of Ahrens Co. in Tokyo. Ahrens was one of many companies set up in the Meiji government’s programme wh­ere western special­ists were invited to help modernise Japan’s existing industries. Ah­rens' director was the German chemist Gott­fried Wag­en­er who introduced modern European enamelling technology to Japan, and who exhibited a Kais­uke work at Vienna Exhibition. In 1878 Wagener moved to Kyoto where he met former samurai and cloisonné artist Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927).

Yasuyuki began his career 1868 and worked with the Kyoto Clois­onné Co. from 1871-4. He established his own studio and exhibited his work at national and international expositions. The best result of the Wagener-Yasuyuki collaboration was the creation of semi-transparent mirror black enamel, the hallmark of most of Yasuyuki’s subsequent work.

Yasuyuki’s cloisonné enamels are characterised by the skilful use of intricate wirework and superb attention to detail and the des­igns on his earlier pieces are relatively traditional, consisting mainly of botanical and geometric motifs. Much of his later work tends to be more pictorial with scenes from nature and views of land­marks in Ky­oto. Yasuyuki continued to improve his technical and art skills and in 1896 he was app­ointed Imperial Craftsman to the court of the Emper­or Meiji. This was an important position and gu­aran­t­eed a domestic market for his work while simultaneously increas­ing its value and price

Namikawa Sōsuke (1847-1910) was another important cloisonné artist and was also appointed Imperial Craftsman to the Emperor Meiji court in 1896. Sōsuke originally worked for the Nagoya Cloisonné Co. but mov­ed to run their Tokyo branch. He contributed to national and in­tern­at­ion­al expositions and perfected a distinctive style of decoration in wh­ich his enamelled designs that reproduced ink paintings. Sōsuke beg­an to use the pioneer seal on his work in c1893, raising Japanese en­am­elling to new heights

The most important company producing cloisonné enamels in Nagoya was the Andō Co. This Golden Age company developed the tech­nique called plique-a-jour, sending examples to the 1900 Paris Expos­ition. The ob­ject was prepared as for cloisonné enamel­ling, though with the wires being fixed only by glue. The interior was not enamelled and once the piece was completed, clear lacquer was applied to its polished exter­ior to protect it from the acid used to diss­ol­ve the copper body. The result­ing fragile object cons­ists of semi-transparent panels of enamel held together by a pattern of fine wires. Andō Co. won many prizes at world exhibitions and c1900 was appointed by the Imperial Household as royal supplier of cloisonné objects for imperial gifts.

Inaba Co. Kyoto was founded in 1886 by Inaba Isshin, a former samurai who began working in enamels in 1875. This was another Golden Age Co that combined designs and techniques used by Kyoto and Nagoya makers.

Should Japan have remained an inward-facing society, protective of its own traditions? Or should it open itself up to the rest of the world, to share? The Japanese Meiji period (1868-1912) was an era in which artists were seriously required to respond to this issue. After c300 years of almost complete isol­at­ion from the globe, Meiji Japan began to trade with Europe and the West.

-Meiji Japan was a strictly isolationist feudal society in which Japan’s ports were completely closed to foreign ships. Meiji Japan saw a new flourish­ing in the arts, as craftsmen and art­ists’ work was in high demand overseas. It led to a vast expansion in production, and the develop­ment of a new national style. In the Meiji Era, Japan returned to being ruled by an enlightened Emperor.

The Meiji Emperor freed peasants from bondage to their lord, built railroads, hospitals and universities, began to trade with Europe and USA, and fostered industrial growth based on market economy. The era was important because of the profound changes in ec­onomy, politics and society, the period in which Japan entered mod­ern­ity. The end of Jap­anese isolation necessarily brought with it a huge influx of West­ern goods, people and culture. Western experts ar­rived in the country to design Japan’s new industries, and to teach in Japan’s universities.

It also meant Japanese culture travelled to Europe and America. Jap­anese goods were sold in Western markets for the first time, and quickly became very fashionable. New Western dem­ands for Japanese-made objects had a profound impact on the history of Japanese arts.

The end of the feudal system in Japan had meant the end of an old sys­tem of artistic patronage in which makers were almost exclus­ive­ly commissioned by their ruling samurai to make decorative pieces. Bec­ause the samurai were warriors, many of these pieces took the form of weaponry and armour. Under the new system, Japanese craftsmen were gr­­­anted more freedom, to design pieces for the market and for export, rather than according to a strict commission. Meiji Japan wanted to portray itself globally as equal to the West artistically and tech­no­logically. And they successfully displayed their wares at the Expos­ition Universelle Paris!

Japanese artists learnt new Western techniques, while Japanese crafts like metalworking were widely copied in the West in the ja­ponism sty­le; it was an important influence on late C19th Art Nouveau. Still the art that developed in the Meiji era remained clearly Japanese.

The Meiji era became the Golden Age of cloisonné enamel: Ja­pan­ese craftsmen then produced some of the best, most complex works. The cl­oisonné technique was introduced to Jap­an from China in 1830s, first used to decorate items like jewellery and swords. Meiji modern­isation led to a vast increase in the num­ber of enam­el­l­ists and in the range of obj­ects. Cloisonné was an ideal medium for the intric­ate, two-dimensional block-colour decoration which was unmistakably Japanese

Enamel pieces were among the most impressive pieces seen by Western­ers at the late C19th Great Exhibitions. Victoria & Albert Mus­eum im­m­ediately started acquiring enamel pieces from the Exh­ibitions and to­d­ay holds one of world’s largest collect­ions of Meiji period enamel. 

Emperor Meiji died in 1912, ending this heady, vib­rant era. This year a couple in a Surrey charity shop bought a Japanese vase for $3. The man noticed the inscriptions on the vase base and took it for expert advice. Canterbury Auction Galleries confirmed that Namikawa Yasuy­uki, one of the most famous ceramist and cloisonné artists of Meiji Japan, was the artist. The tiny vase feat­ured naturalistic depictions of birds on a black background, Yasuy­uki’s sig­nature mark. Canterbury Auction Galleries has previous­ly auctioned beautiful works by Yasuyuki’s Kyoto studio; a slightly larger vase sold for $38,000 in 2019.