Lot 120: A cloisonné enamel tray

A cloisonné enamel tray Meiji period (late 19th century), sealed Sakigake (Workshop of Namikawa Sosuke; 1847-1910) The lobbed tray decorated in gold and silver wires and partly in wireless (musen) enamels with a dove perched on a blossoming peach branch, on a beige ground, with an unidentified artist’s seal Mori; shakudo rim 10 7/8in. (27.6cm.) wide

19th century

Namikawa Sosuke pioneered a pictorial style of cloisonné enameling as early as 1881, when his panels for the Second National Industrial Exposition at Ueno Park, were exhibited in the Art section. Other cloisonné workshops were confined to the Industrial section. Sosuke became an Imperial Craftsman together with Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927), no relation. The seal mark of Mori on this tray may indicate that it was designed after a painting by the seventeenth century artist, Kano Tan'yu (1602-1674). Tan'yu's actual name was Morinobu and he often used the character Mori for his seals. For a painting by Kano Tan'yu with identical motif of a dove perched on a peach tree, see Sen-oku Hakukokan Sumitomo Collection (Kyoto: Benrido, 2010), pl. 31.