NAMIKAWA YASUYUKI (1845-1927) OF KYOTO
A Cloisonné-Enamel Slender Baluster Vase
Meiji era (1868-1912), late 19th/early 20th century
Delicately worked in tapering gold wire and red, yellow, blue and green enamels with a solitary bird perched among flowering maple branches reserved on a lustrous black ground, applied with a shakudo rim and foot, signed directly on the base silver base with engraved characters Kyoto Namikawa; with a small wood stand. 23cm (9 1/16in) high. (2).
Footnotes:
Published and Illustrated:
Gregory Irvine, Japanese Cloisonné Enamels: The Seven Treasures, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2006, p.76 (right image).

Born in 1845 to a rural samurai family, Namikawa Yasuyuki started his cloisonné business in Kyoto in 1873 and by the 1880s was successful enough to build, and then extend and upgrade, a large compound that eventually included workshops housing 20 or more employees, a showroom, a family residence and a garden with a fishpond. He used these facilities to create a carefully orchestrated private retail experience that was described in admiring detail by American and European travel writers, selling many of his finest wares directly to private clients, as well as carrying out imperial commissions and participating in international expositions. Between 1876 and 1904 he won 11 overseas awards and in 1896, along with his unrelated namesake the Tokyo enameler Namikawa Sosuke (the two family names are written with different characters), was among the first individuals to be appointed to the ranks of Teishitsu Gigeiin (Artist-Craftsmen to the Imperial Household). Such was his reputation that at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle his wares were snapped up the moment they were unpacked and sold for up to ten times the amount anticipated. For a detailed biography of Namikawa Yasuyuki, see Frederic T. Schneider, The Art of Japanese Cloisonné Enamel: History, Techniques and Artists, 1600 to the Present, Jefferson, N.C., McFarland, 2010, pp.86–87.

Including but not limited to the following:

No signs of any restoration when examined under UV light. Hardly any wear. A few very minor short surface scratches just beside the maple leaves on the far upper right side but scarcely noticeable. Very good overall condition and excellent presentable order.