kouro

The mark of this workshop is found on items which range from having very simple to quite sophisticated designs. This […]

The three listings here show objects bearing the mark given by Schneider (mark ref 193) as Takahara Komakichi (Takahara 高原 […]

Totai is broadly used (misused) here for Japanese cloisonné on all ceramics, earthenwares, and porcelain. It should more correctly be used […]

This attractive little jar has the same Kinkozan workshop mark 錦光山 seen earlier on object 52. It is a lovely […]

In the early stages of cloisonne production in Nagoya 名​古​屋 a ceramic base was commonly used. This object is of […]

Certain vases with a strong blue element share a general style of decoration based on complex symmetrical patterns in the […]

Links to some of the images of Japanese cloisonne on this website. Additional images are within the blog discussions which […]

Ceramic cloisonne has a particular beauty.  It is easy to see why it would be popular with buyers, and it […]

Dragon and phoenix (houou bird) decoration is a very popular form of decoration on Japanese cloisonne objects. The dragon images […]

This small ceramic jar has a mark believed to be that of the workshop of Kinkozan Sobei VI 六代錦光山宗兵衞.   […]

This lovely small jar or korou shares most of the common features of the previous pair of vases and also […]

This is another collection where there are no marks and no workshop has yet been identified. The name for this […]

Takahara Komajiro 高原駒次郎 is described by Schneider as ‘the most well known and consistent maker of Kyoto-jippo wares’.  There are […]

Several items in the collection share the following features. they are unmarked and no workshop has been identified for them […]

The term ‘coins’ is used on this website for the smaller rather simple circular decorations as seen below. See also […]

Decoration with fan shapes is less common within this collection than with roundels, but it is an attractive feature of […]

With the previous vase the difficulty of designing on black with residual spiral ‘strength’ wiring was discussed. This simple jar […]

Here are the jars, kouro, and other objects not covered in the vases section of the website. See here for […]

Many objects have a distinctive pattern around the lower neck. This can be useful for connecting objects from the same […]

See below for images of the bases and base areas of the Japanese cloisonne objects covered on this website. See […]

Here ’roundels’ are defined as any circular or part circular area on our Japanese cloisonne objects with a non-trivial internal […]

Japanese cloisonne makers working on metal seem to have standardised early on a spiral shape to be used for ‘strength […]

The butterfly is a very common decoration on Japanese cloisonne vases and other items, not least because its shape is […]

Many Japanese cloisonne objects are decorated with the auspicious Houou bird 鳳​凰 (ほうおう). They can sometimes be a useful way […]