cloisonne

Sosuke Tray

A leading expert in cloisonne authenticated that this tray is an unsigned piece by Namikawa Sosuke and, even more remarkably, a photographic example of a similar tray that is based on the same artwork by the artist Watanabe Seitei. Most specialists will confidently attribute this tray to the Tokyo branch of Shippo Gaisha, managed by Namikawa Sosuke. We initially cleaned and bleached the cracks, taking care not to damage the patina of the metalwork. We bent the rim back into shape ...

This 19th century Japanese vase is 12” tall and had a dent about 1-1/2” across from which most of the enamel was missing. We can restore cloisonne to a high degree of invisibility. Cloisonne is constructed on copper vessels onto which thin copper or silver, or sometimes gilded, wires are soldered. These wires create the cells, or cloisons, that are filled with crushed colored glass that is then fused into the enamel that covers these pieces. The final step, not ...