拍品專文
Among the remarkable Japanese masters of the art of cloisonné enameling, Namikawa Yasuyuki stands out. Namikawa represented Japan in a number of international expositions, winning prizes at the International Exhibition, Philadelphia, celebrating America's Centennial in 1876, and the Exposition Universelle, Paris, in 1900. Together with the unrelated Namikawa Sosuke, Yasuyuki was appointed Artist to the Imperial Household (Teishitsu gigeiin), the two enamellers so honored. This exquisite incense burner demonstrates the delicacy of design and skill of wirework and enameling for which the Namikawa workshop was and is justly famous.
For a pair of vases with identical design and decoration in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, exhibited at the Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893, image available online at https://colbase.nich.go.jp/collection_items/tnm/G-604?locale=ja, and there is another vase also in the same style sold at Christie’s New York, 22 September 2005, lot 266 (Fig. 1).
For a bottle with similar design, thought to be slightly later example, see Impey and Fairley, eds., Enamel, vol. III of Meiji no Takara, Treasures of Imperial Japan (London: Kibo Foundation, 1995), pl. 10, fig. 8.
For a pair of vases with identical design and decoration in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, exhibited at the Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893, image available online at https://colbase.nich.go.jp/collection_items/tnm/G-604?locale=ja, and there is another vase also in the same style sold at Christie’s New York, 22 September 2005, lot 266 (Fig. 1).
For a bottle with similar design, thought to be slightly later example, see Impey and Fairley, eds., Enamel, vol. III of Meiji no Takara, Treasures of Imperial Japan (London: Kibo Foundation, 1995), pl. 10, fig. 8.