BY THE IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST. PETERSBURG, PERIOD OF ALEXANDER III, 1887

In 1856, Japan opened to the world for trade after a 200-year period of isolation, causing a vast influx of Japanese art into the European and American markets. The vast array of innovative techniques, materials and decorative motifs, unlike anything they’d seen before, made a profound impression on European craftsmen. It is believed that the influence of Japanese art transformed concepts of design, and laid the foundation for the Art Nouveau movement in Europe. Though not quite in the Art Nouveau style, the present lot exhibits a strong Japanese influence in its stylized clouds and geometric border, raised gold decoration imitating decoration found on Japanese lacquer, and depiction of naturalistic animals which are in places cut off by the border as if they are moving in and out of the field of view.