Live Auction 7316The Japanese Aesthetic
A Pair of Silver and Cloisonné Vases
Lot 311

A Pair of Silver and Cloisonné Vases

EACH SEALED OZEKI SEI AND ONE SIGNED SHOKASAI ZO, THE OTHER KIYOAKI SAKU KORE, MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY)

Closed7 November 2012

Price Realised

GBP 13,750

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A Pair of Silver and Cloisonné Vases
Each sealed Ozeki sei and one signed Shokasai zo, the other Kiyoaki saku kore, Meiji Period (late 19th century)
Of unusual form, each body with intricate silver filigree work and with a central silver band applied with various coloured cloisonné enamels worked in gold wire depicting carp swimming among lilly pads, the shoulder and base carved and engraved with chrysanthemum flowers, each neck with stylised butterflies and floral motifs
Each 15cm. high (2)

Specialist note

The Musashiya company, operated by Ozeki Yahei and his son Sadajiro, were perhaps the most successful of the concerns selling high-quality decorative art during the Meiji era. Originally a dealer in pipes, Ozeki Yahei set up the Yokohama branch at 66 Main Street, probably under the management of his son Ozeki Sadajiro, soon after the port was opened in 1859. In 1877, both father and son exhibited commissioned pieces under their separate names in the first Naikoku Kangyo Hakurankai [National Industrial Exposition]. By 1880, the company is recorded as employing twenty-four people and dealing in enamels, bronzes, ivory, crystal, carvings, pins, fans, hardstones, tortoiseshell, lacquer, and a variety of ceramics.1

1. Joe Earle, Splendors of Meiji: Treasures of Imperial Japan, Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection (St. Petersburg, Florida, 1999), p. 94