Namikawa Yasuyuki

A former samurai, Namikawa Yasuyuki started work as an artist around 1868, working for the Kyoto Cloisonné Company from 1871 to 1874 and eventually forming his own company.{{Cite web|date=20 July 2011|title=History of Cloisonné in Japan|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/history-of-cloisonne-enamels-in-japan-1838-1871/|access-date=20 July 2020|website=Victoria and Albert Museum|language=en-GB}} He gave tours of his workshop; one visitor was the English writer Rudyard Kipling.{{Cite web|date=5 November 2017|title=Polished to Perfection|url=https://asianartnewspaper.com/polished-to-perfection/|access-date=20 July 2020|website=Asian Art Newspaper}} These tours began in a garden to introduce Japanese aesthetics, and Namikawa would show the many stages of his production process, including fourteen polishing stones of different roughness that were used in sequence.

Along with Namikawa Sōsuke, he was one of only two cloisonné artists ever to be appointed Imperial Household Artist.{{cite book|title=Imperial Japan: The Art of the Meiji Era, 1868-1912 : an Exhibition|year=1980|first=Frederick |last=Baekeland|publisher=Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University|pages=184–185}} These artists were given a yearly stipend and were commissioned by the Imperial family to make presentation wares as gifts for foreign dignitaries.{{sfn|Earle|1999|pp=348–349}} After the Meiji era, foreign demand for Japanese art tailed off.{{Cite web|last=Yamada|first=Mio|date=7 February 2017|title=Yasuyuki Namikawa: A master of cloisonne color and design|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/02/07/arts/yasuyuki-namikawa-master-cloisonne-color-design/|access-date=20 July 2020|website=The Japan Times|language=en-US}} Namikawa Yasuyuki retired in 1919 and his workshop closed in 1923.

File:Vase LACMA M.91.251.1 (2 of 2).jpg

The collector Donald Gerber distinguishes three schools of Japanese cloisonné and places Namikawa at the head of the Kyoto, or naturalistic, school.

He invented the first transparent black glaze, which led to the development of other transparent enamels.{{Cite web|title=How It's Made: Japanese Cloisonné|url=https://blog.dma.org/2012/06/26/how-its-made-japanese-cloisonne/|last=Leonard|first=Loryn|date=26 June 2012|website=Dallas Museum of Art Uncrated|language=en-US|access-date=6 May 2020}}

He used intricate wire work and is known for attention to detail. His early work used geometrical motifs or stylised representations of plants. His style became more pictorial over his career, usually depicting Kyoto's landmarks. He also worked with larger and more varied vases. Colourful figures on a yellow ground are one of his identifying marks.{{sfn|Earle|1999|pp=51–52}} His style was shaped by his contact with Gottfried Wagener, a German scientist brought to Japan by the government to help modernise Japanese industry.{{sfn|Earle|1999|pp=51–52}} Together they developed a semi-transparent mirror black enamel that became a hallmark of Namikawa's work. By 1893 Namikawa had learned to hide background wires, creating solid areas of enamel.

He experimented extensively with the proportions and combinations of minerals, as well as with firing times and temperatures, to develop a wide range of colors and delicate gradations. In the Namikawa family’s collection, many of the original enamels used during that time are still preserved. For example, records indicate that to create the color known as "Special Yellow Gradation for the Paulownia Vase" (桐花瓶用別口黄色ボカシ), he used as many as fifteen different enamels with varying degrees of brightness, revealing his remarkable dedication to color.{{cite book|author=Masayuki Murata|title=The Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum Collection: Kyoto Cloisonné – The Works of Namikawa Yasuyuki|page=143|publisher=Tankōsha}}

Judges at Japan's fourth National Industrial Exhibition in 1895 remarked on Namikawa's change of stylistic approach when awarding him first prize:

"[H]ere flowers of the four seasons, with birds of exquisite coloring, are set on to a black background color, forming a picture far beyond a mere pattern. But he seems still to adhere to the traditional methods of depiction, not attempting to imitate brushwork as do some other persons. He places great emphasis on fine wirework and on a flawless surface with no pitting or bubbles, achieved through painstaking study of glazing and firing."{{sfn|Earle|1999|p=232}}

At the National Industrial Exhibition of 1881, Namikawa was awarded second prize for a copper vase "of elegant shape with opaque and transparent colors and complicated wire-work, with no trace of cracks."{{sfn|Earle|1999|pp=51–52}}

Many of his works are in collections today such as the Ashmolean Museum,{{Cite web|title=Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art|url=http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/4/867/874|website=jameelcentre.ashmolean.org|publisher=Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford|language=en|access-date=15 May 2020}} the Victoria and Albert Museum,{{Cite web|title=Search the Collections {{!}} Victoria and Albert Museum|url=http://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/namikawa-yasuyuki/A3767/|website=collections.vam.ac.uk|access-date=15 May 2020}} the Los Angeles County Museum of Art{{Cite web|title=Namikawa Yasuyuki {{!}} LACMA Collections|url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/168895|website=collections.lacma.org|access-date=15 May 2020}} and Khalili Collection of Japanese Art. The Namikawa Cloisonne Museum of Kyoto (ja) and Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum (ja) in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, exhibits a range of his items.

The most highly acclaimed and famous of his works is the 1899 Vase with Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons (四季花鳥図花瓶), which is owned by the Museum of the Imperial Collections.Toyoro Hida, Gregory Irvine, Kana Ooki, Tomoko Hana and Yukari Muro. Namikawa Yasuyuki and Japanese Cloisonné The Allure of Meiji Cloisonné: The Aesthetic of Translucent Black, p.127, The Mainichi Newspapers Co, Ltd, 2017{{cite web|url=https://shozokan.nich.go.jp/en/collection/object/SZK000455|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250404150146/https://shozokan.nich.go.jp/en/collection/object/SZK000455|title=Vase with Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons|publisher=Museum of the Imperial Collections|date=|archive-date=4 April 2025|access-date=4 April 2025}} It was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1900 and received a gold prize.[https://ginza-shinseido.com/%E6%B5%B7%E5%A4%96%E5%8D%9A%E8%A6%A7%E4%BC%9A%E3%81%AE%E5%8F%97%E8%B3%9E%E6%AD%B4%E3%81%A8%E6%97%A7%E9%82%B8%E5%AE%85%E3%81%AE%E6%A7%8B%E9%80%A0%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E8%A6%8B%E3%82%8B%E4%B8%A6%E6%B2%B3/ 海外博覧会の受賞歴と旧邸宅の構造から見る並河靖之の国際的な評価] Ginza Shinseidō In 2025, it was designated as an Important Cultural Property.{{cite web|url=https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/pdf/94188001_03.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250324054511/https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/pdf/94188001_03.pdf|script-title=ja:文化審議会の答申（国宝・重要文化財（美術工芸品）の指定等）II.解説|language=ja|publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs|date=|archive-date=24 March 2025|access-date=4 April 2025}}

Vase with Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons, Namikawa Yasuyuki, 1899, 四季花鳥図花瓶, 並河靖之.jpg|Vase with Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons, 1899、Important Cultural Property

File:Incense Burner LACMA M.91.251.2.jpg|alt=Refer to caption|Koro, 19th century

File:Jar with Cover LACMA M.91.212.2a-b.jpg|alt=Refer to caption|Jar with cover

File:Cloisonné lidded box with butterfly design by Namikawa Yasuyuki.JPG|alt=Refer to caption|Box with butterfly design, 1890

File:Namikawa Yasuyuki G-605.jpg|alt=Refer to caption|Chrysanthemum and ivy bottle, 1892

File:Khalili Collection Japanese Meiji Art E43.jpg|alt=Refer to caption|Koro and cover, circa 1910

File:Cloisonné incense container with landscape design by Namikawa Yasuyuki.JPG|alt=Refer to caption|Incense container with landscape design, 1910

File:Cloisonné vase with design of houses in landscape by Namikawa Yasuyuki.JPG|alt=Refer to caption|Vase with houses in a landscape, 1910-1915

• Ando Jubei

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• {{Cite book|title=Splendors of Meiji : treasures of imperial Japan : masterpieces from the Khalili Collection|last=Earle|first=Joe|publisher=Broughton International Inc|year=1999|isbn=1874780137|location=St. Petersburg, Fla.|oclc=42476594}}

• {{cite book|first=Frederic T. |last=Schneider |title=The Art of Japanese Cloisonné Enamel: History, Techniques and Artists, 1600 to the Present| location=Jefferson NC |publisher=McFarland|year=2010|pages=86–87|isbn=9781476662763|oclc=934637505}}

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Category:1845 births

Category:1927 deaths

Category:Japanese enamellers

Category:Imperial household artists