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- Lacquerware
Prior to the Meiji era the use of lacquerware was widespread, and it had become an integral part of everyday life in Japan. The skillful lacquerers enjoyed the support of feudal lords and sam�urai. However, that patronage was lost after the Meiji restora�tion. So in order to survive they had to adapt to accommodate the new foreign export market. It was the 1873 Vienna Interna�tional Exposition which first displayed Japanese lacquerware and created a foreign demand for it. The lacquer industry was encouraged and financially supported by the Meiji government. And the Tokyo Fine Arts School, which was set up in 1887, had a special department devoted to the lacquer craft.
Like other crafts in the Meiji era, foreign demand caused some companies to begin mass production, which greatly lowered the quality of the pieces and caused an inevitable setback in the industry. Also like other crafts, the lacquer artists conceded to the demands of the new age while attempting to retain some of the traditional aspects in their work.
Compared to earlier lacquerware, the Meiji lacquerware that was independently produced had a tendency towards natural�ism, refinement and a perfection of techniques. The greatest master of Meiji lacquerware was without a doubt Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891). His works display his creative genius and are of the highest quality. His sons also became noted lacquerers and his pupil Ikeda Taishin (1825-1903) showed great originality and was highly regarded at international expositions. Other no�table lacquer artists from this period include Kawanobe Itcho (1830-1910), Ogawa Shomin (1847-1891) and Shirayama Shosai (1853-1923).
Cloisonne
The manufacture of enamelware known as cloisonne (shippo- yuki in Japanese) existed in Japan probably as far back as 1600. The earliest pieces were more or less copies of Chinese speci�mens with thick wire outlines and crowded backgrounds, but were more crude.
Japanese cloisonne never achieved notoriety for quality or quantity until the Meiji period. It was a craftsman by the name of Kaji Tsunekichi (1803-1883) from Hattori village near Nagoya
who brought about the first innovative improvements in the craft in the 1830s. He trained several apprentices who breathed new life into the cloisonne business. One such man was Hayashi Shogoro, who in turn taught a new generation of outstanding artists like Tsukamoto Kaisuke (1828-1897), the artist who de�veloped the method of applying cloisonne to a ceramic body. In 1868 when the German chemist Dr. Gottfried Wagner arrived in Japan to teach French enamelling techniques, he together with Tsukamoto, worked for the German financed Ahrens Cloi�sonne Company (1875-1879) which developed colour variations through chemical processes.
Other important early Meiji cloisonne craftsmen include Ando Jubei (1875-1953?), whose company in Nagoya produced a large quantity of cloisonne and received several international awards; Hayashi Kodenji (1832-after 1911), who developed a design known as the "brocade-style"; Inaba Nanaho, who founded the Inaba Cloisonne Company in Kyoto in 1887; and finally the two Namikawas (no relation)�Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927) and Namikawa Sosuke (1847-1910), who are gener�ally considered to be the greatest of the Meiji cloisonne masters, and whose works are unsurpassed in their beauty. The former was noted for his complex and detailed works as well as for developing transparent enamels, while the latter perfected the technique of wireless cloisonne (musean shippo) and is known for his graded colours in the painting style of the Maruyama- Shijo school.
Prior to the Meiji era cloisonne was produced solely for the Japanese market, but Meiji cloisonne developed and prospered due to European and American patronage. Export cloisonne catered to Western tastes, particularly in realistic depictions. The craftsmen laboured to reach the highest standards for the export ware. Initially it brought them tremendous national acclaim and financial success. Japanese cloisonne had its golden age from 1880 to 1914, a short but brilliant period. During this time the quality and range of colour enamels had improved to an extraor�dinary degree. Japanese cloisonne won numerous awards at international expositions. And during its heyday, in the village of Shippo-mura alone there were some 700 workers and over 121 kilns producing the enamelware.
MEIJI 7 29
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