Totai Jars – Japan Cloisonne

Totai is broadly used (misused) here for Japanese cloisonné on all ceramics, earthenwares, and porcelain. It should more correctly be used in a more restricted way (see Schneider). Please also view the Japanese Totai Vases page.

Jars 52 and 69 have the mark 錦光山 indicating they are from the workshop of Kinkozan Sobei VI 六代錦光山宗兵衞, the mark on no 69 being clearer. Jars 67 and 84 have marks which relate to the ‘Japanese Cloisonne Company’.

Jars 83, 85 and 87 have a Yasuda made 安田造 mark (see also Yasuda marked vase on Totai vases page). I rather like the simplicity of the designs used by Yasuda, with a bold contrast of colours.

52. Kinkozan workshop. 錦光山 mark

61. Unmarked but in the familiar style of a frame made of red dots with a floral decoration.

67. ‘Japanese Cloisonne Company produced’. In the characters written on the base, this is 日本七寶會社製造 which in slightly more modern form is 日本七宝会社製造. See also 84 below for a more modern form of the same mark.

69. Kinkozan workshop. 錦光山 mark.

73. Unmarked, and with a more modern feel than most on this page.

74. Another unmarked example, this time with circular designs that are very different from the earlier examples here.

83. A Yasuda 安田造 marked jar. It has a side mark, probably of the person in the workshop responsible.

84. ‘Japanese Cloisonne Company produced’. This appears a rather more recent item than those above. The mark is 大日本製造　七宝会社 which is a reordered form of that seen on 67 above: ‘Japanese Cloisonne Company produced’ as ‘Dai Nihon seizō shippō kaisha’ or ‘Japan made (by) cloisonne company’. See Schneider mark 246 for similar.