Pair of Early Japanese Plique-a-Jour Bowls from Nagoya

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A pair of small but exquisite Plique-a-jour cloisonné bowls with nearly identical design from Nagoya area in Japan circa 1900-20s. … Read more A pair of small but exquisite Plique-a-jour cloisonné bowls with nearly identical design from Nagoya area in Japan circa 1900-20s. Maker's unknown but possibly by Ando company. The technique was hard to master as no wires were used to hold together the enamel. Very similar pieces can be found in the collection of V&A museum (reference number FE.12-2011 and FE.13-2011) and Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (1990.S). The design on this bowl features roses, day lily, peony and chrysanthemum among foliage. Agaist the light, because of the lack of wires in its body, it irradiates a translucent beauty hard to describe. With silver color metal ring around the rim and three feet underneath, the bowls have a heavier construction suggesting its earlier age compared to the other two Plique-a-jour pieces we have on offer.
Plique-a-jour was reputedly introduced and further developed in Japan by Ando Jubei (1876-1953) and Kawade Shibataro (1856–1921), after he saw a French piece in Paris exposition circa 1900s. It is known as shotai-jippo, meaning cloisonne without backing (whereby the metal body was dissolved after firing and polishing). The technique is notoriously difficult and labor-intense. It was rarely used to make large piece as the surface tension tends to break the enamel. See less