NAMIKAWA SOSUKE (1847-1910) OF TOKYO A Cloisonné-Enamel and Musen Lotus-Leaf-Shaped Tray Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th century (2)NAMIKAWA SOSUKE (1847-1910) OF TOKYOA Cloisonné-Enamel and Musen Lotus-Leaf-Shaped Tray Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th centuryDecorated with a single goldfish swimming towards the bottom of a pond on a graduated pale blue ground, the goldfish worked with white and pinkish-red musen ('wireless') enamel fins, the reverse worked in gilt wire enamel with numerous densely patterned cherry blossoms in pale brown on a dark plum-coloured ground, applied with a shakudo rim, signed on the reverse in silver wire with the Sakigake (seal of Namikawa Sosuke); with a custom-made velvet storage box. 26.5cm x 27cm (10½in x 10 5/8in). (2).Published and illustrated:Sano Museum, Kindai kogei no hana, Meiji no shippo (Belle of Modern Crafts: Meiji-Period Cloisonn), exh. cat., Shizuoka, 2008, p.93, pl.133.One of the greatest craft entrepreneurs of the later Meiji era, Namikawa Sosuke was until recently best known in Japan for a set of 32 decorative panels commissioned for Tokyo's Akasaka Rikyu Palace, completed in 1909. These date from the last years of his very productive life, nearly three decades after he began to experiment with the technique known as musen shippo (wireless enamelling), his most enduring contribution to an art form that developed at extraordinary speed in Japan between the mid-nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century. In Chinese cloisonn enamelling, the wires separating the different areas of fused and polished enamels that made up a design also served to hold the enamels in place during the firing process, and the individual areas of colour were relatively small. Sosuke, followed shortly after by his rivals, managed to improve the chemistry of the enamels so that they adhered more securely to the metal bases of his wares, allowing him to introduce large areas of colour into his designs, although it is thought that wires between different colours still had to be painstakingly applied and removed at each stage of manufacture. Thanks to these and other technical breakthroughs, later Meiji-era enamellers were often able to emulate the effects of brush painting on paper or silk. In recognition of his achievements, in 1896 Sosuke was appointed to the order of Teishitsu Gigeiin (Artist-Craftsman to the Imperial Household).