Antique 19th c Meiji Cloisonne Plaque – Namikawa Sosuke 1847-1910 – Framed

无货

Condition Report: Mostly under the plaque. Size: Plaque: 320,, x 275mm Frame 437 x 396, Overall Condition C. The frame has obvious age marks and damage. The plaque itself has multiple glaze cracks in the ennamel and some damage to the rim.

Namikawa Sōsuke (1847–1910) was a Japanese cloisonné artist.  Many of his works are in museums today

One of the greatest craft entrepreneurs of the later Meiji era, Namikawa Sosuke was until recently best known in Japan for a set of 32 decorative panels commissioned for Tokyo’s Akasaka Rikyu Palace, completed in 1909. These date from the last years of his very productive life, nearly three decades after he began to experiment with the technique known as musen shippo (wireless enameling), his most enduring contribution to an art form that developed at extraordinary speed in Japan between the mid-nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century. In Chinese cloisonné enameling, the wires separating the different areas of fused and polished enamels that made up a design also served to hold the enamels in place during the firing process, and the individual areas of color were relatively small. Sosuke, followed shortly after by his rivals, managed to improve the chemistry of the enamels so that they adhered more securely to the metal bases of his wares, allowing him to introduce large areas of color into his designs, although it is thought that wires between different colors still had to be painstakingly applied and removed at each stage of manufacture. Thanks to these and other technical breakthroughs, later Meiji-era enamelers were often able to emulate the effects of brush painting on paper or silk. In recognition of his achievements, in 1896 Sosuke was appointed to the order of Teishitsu Gigeiin (Artist-Craftsman to the Imperial Household).

References:

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24152/lot/211/

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24293/lot/1020/

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24152/lot/210/

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23430/lot/186/

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22814/lot/395/

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21861/lot/510/

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/10241/lot/457/

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/14801/lot/3138/

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/15288/lot/6011/

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-cloisonne-enamel-tray-meiji-period-5885782-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=5885782&sid=6ba8d083-9aa7-4747-9352-47b77a74f292

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-silver-and-enamel-box-and-cover-4557624-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=4557624&sid=6ba8d083-9aa7-4747-9352-47b77a74f292

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2005/japanese-and-korean-works-of-art-l05860/lot.977.html