A RARE JAPANESE CLOISONNE ENAMEL SQUARE TRAY BY NAMIKAWA YASUYUKI (1845-1927) c.1903 The shallow...

A RARE JAPANESE CLOISONNE ENAMEL SQUARE TRAY BY NAMIKAWA YASUYUKI (1845-1927)

c.1903

The shallow body decorated in silver and gold wire with a wooden pavilion amongst trees, with stone steps meandering through the bushes, the rim with a band of stripes and diamond patterns in yellow, green, white, red and blue, the reverse a deep apple-green colour mirroring the front and raised on four short rounded feet, with a four character seal mark reading Kyoto Namikawa for Namikawa Yasuyuki, 11.8cm.

Provenance: from the Weber Family collection, Bristol, acquired in the early 20th century. Two large Komai-style models of pagodas from the same collection sold in these rooms on 15th November 2017, lots 787 and 788.

Cf. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art: Meiji no Takara, Treasures of Imperial Japan, vol.III Enamel, p.37, fig.13 for a related tray by Namikawa Yasuyuki from a private Kyoto collection. Also the Baur Foundation, inventory n.CB.CLJ.1964.28 for another example decorated with Karasaki shrine on the shores of Lake Biwa.

During the late 19th century, Namikawa Yasuyuki grew to become a highly successful artist, both in

Japan and in the West. The Emperor Meiji appointed him Imperial Craftsman to the Court in 1896,

an honour only bestowed upon a handful of artists. He regularly took part in International Exhibitions,

winning countless awards, and Westerners travelling to Japan often visited his studio in Kyoto. Famous

customers include King Edward VIII, Sir Rutherford Alcock and Rudyard Kipling, who was particularly

taken by the lengthy process of making cloisonné: "... I saw a man who had only been a month over the

polishing of one little vase [...] When I am in America he will be polishing still, and the ruby-coloured

dragon […] will be growing more lovely…"