Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Baluster vase with chrysanthemums

Glossary (2)

cloisonné, plique-à-jour

  • cloisonné

    Decorative technique in which wires are attached to a metal body and coloured enamels are applied between the wires.

  • plique-à-jour

    Type of cloisonné enamel in which the metal supporting body has been removed using acid.

Location

    • Second floor | Room 36 | Japan

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  • Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period 1868-1912 by Oliver Impey and Joyce Seaman

    Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period

    Plique-à-jour baluster-shaped vase decorated with chrysanthemums in coloured enamels against a translucent pale green background. The base and the upper rim mounted in silver.

    Cloisonné enamel from which the supporting background had been removed, thus rendering it transparent, is called plique-à-jour, (shōtai-jippō in Japanese). It is extremely fragile. This very difficult technique was invented in France and first came to the notice of the Japanese enamellers when it was seen at the Paris Exposition in 1900 by Andō Jūbei. He bought some pieces by Fernand Thesmar, and it was from these that Kawade Shibatarō is said to have learned the technique. The skill spread, and other makers were soon producing it, most notably Hattori Tadasaburō, but we are unable to attribute this unsigned piece.

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