Nagoya ware / Noritake ware / Nippon ware / Dragon ware *

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noritake

See also:

Nagoya ware

Museum Examples
Yokoyama Museum of Art

Cloisonné Company 七宝会社

Marks from the following: "横山美術館300選" (Yokoyama Museum of Art's 300 Selections)

Marks from the following: "超技の世界,「瀬戸焼・美濃焼・名古屋絵付など」, 横山美術館, 横山美術館" (The World of Super-Techniques, Seto ware, Mino ware, Nagoya paintings, etc., Yokoyama Museum of Art, Yokoyama Art Museum)

The Cloisonné Company was established in Nagoya in 1871 (Meiji 4) by Sosuke Okaya, a metal merchant from Nagoya, with the aim of maintaining the quality of cloisonné products and exporting them overseas. They later expanded their business to include other crafts, employing many skilled painters and producing exquisitely crafted and resplendent overglaze enamel products. They also won numerous awards at domestic and international exhibitions. The Cloisonné Company exhibited at the Philadelphia World's Fair in 1876 and won a gold medal at the Paris World's Fair in 1878.
Cloisonné porcelain is made by applying cloisonné glaze to areas of the porcelain surface that have been scraped away, resulting in a smooth finish.
Meizansha was a cloisonné company that existed in Nagoya as a cloisonné decorator in the 1870s.
One of their artists who painted pieces, Yasui Joho, won an award for his "ceramic painting" as a painter for works exhibited by the Cloisonné Company at the Second National Industrial Exhibition in 1881 (Meiji 14). At the Fourth National Industrial Exhibition, he also painted vases and confectionery containers for works exhibited by Takifuji Manjiro..
Early Meiji period (late 19th century)
"So" 「宗」mark, the trade name of the cloisonné company.

Fujio Hara 原不二夫

Marks from the following: "超技の世界,「瀬戸焼・美濃焼・名古屋絵付など」, 横山美術館, 横山美術館" (The World of Super-Techniques, Seto ware, Mino ware, Nagoya paintings, etc., Yokoyama Museum of Art, Yokoyama Art Museum)

Cloisonné enamelware typically uses metals such as copper as its base, but porcelain cloisonné uses porcelain as its base. The glaze on the surface of the vessel is scraped off, fine brass or silver wires are embedded, and then the cloisonné glaze is applied and fired. It was exported in the early Meiji period, but disappeared in the late 1870s. Records show that Fujio Hara applied cloisonné enamel to the bodies of Gosuke Kato and Masukichi Kato of Seto.
Fujio Hara had a history of exhibiting at the Paris World's Fair in 1878.

IE & C Co.

Marks from the following: "横山美術館300選" (Yokoyama Museum of Art's 300 Selections)

"IE & C Co. " mark
Late Meiji to Taisho period (late 19th to early 20th century)
Used moriage technique.

Kaiyosha 開洋社

Marks from the following: "超技の世界,「瀬戸焼・美濃焼・名古屋絵付など」, 横山美術館, 横山美術館" (The World of Super-Techniques, Seto ware, Mino ware, Nagoya paintings, etc., Yokoyama Museum of Art, Yokoyama Art Museum)

Kaiyosha was a trading company specializing in ceramics and cloisonné products, established in 1878 by Tokuemon Hirako and Kyusuke Matsumura, ceramic merchants from Nagoya.

Matsumura Kusuke 松村九助
Nagoya ware

Museum Examples
Yokoyama Museum of Art

Nagoya-style porcelain painting and Kyusuke Matsumura
During the Meiji era, the raw materials for Seto ware and Mino ware were transported to Nagoya for overglaze decoration. Painters gathered from Kutani, Kyoto, Arita, and other areas, and traders from Yokohama and Kobe also moved their bases to Nagoya. Nagoya developed into a major center for export ceramics, and the port of Nagoya was opened. It is characterized by its vibrant colors and three-dimensional decorations created by raising the paint.
Kyusuke Matsumura, originally from Arita, moved to Nagoya to sell cobalt for painting ceramics and opened Matsumura Shoten, beginning to handle export ceramics in 1876. In 1878, he established Kaiyosha with ceramic wholesalers for the purpose of export sales. After its dissolution, in 1885, he established a 1,700-tsubo (approximately 5,600 square meter) porcelain factory in Minami Buhei-cho (present-day Sakae, Naka Ward), and began firing the unglazed ceramics in a climbing kiln to improve quality. Later, it became Matsumura Pottery Factory, and now handles integrated production including overglaze painting.
Kyusuke Matsumura was from Arita and began selling ceramics in Nagoya around 1876. In 1898, he co-founded Kaiyosha with several other ceramic wholesalers in Nagoya, with the aim of exporting and selling ceramics. After Kaiyosha was dissolved, in 1885, he took over the business on his own and established Matsumura Shoten. Kyusuke Matsumura won an award at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition and exhibited his work at the 1900 Paris World's Fair.
"Made by Matsumura, Great Japan" 「大日本松村造」mark and "Made by Matsumura, Aichi Prefecture" 「愛知県松村造」mark

Marks from the following: "横山美術館300選" (Yokoyama Museum of Art's 300 Selections)

Marks from the following: "超技の世界,「瀬戸焼・美濃焼・名古屋絵付など」, 横山美術館, 横山美術館" (The World of Super-Techniques, Seto ware, Mino ware, Nagoya paintings, etc., Yokoyama Museum of Art, Yokoyama Art Museum)

Mogi Imanari group 茂木今成組

Marks from the following: "超技の世界,「瀬戸焼・美濃焼・名古屋絵付など」, 横山美術館, 横山美術館" (The World of Super-Techniques, Seto ware, Mino ware, Nagoya paintings, etc., Yokoyama Museum of Art, Yokoyama Art Museum)

Kitaro Mogi founded the Mogi Trading Company in the 1880s, and later established the Mogi-Imanari Group with Shinichi Imanari.

Morimoto Zenshichi 森本善七

Marks from the following: "超技の世界,「瀬戸焼・美濃焼・名古屋絵付など」, 横山美術館, 横山美術館" (The World of Super-Techniques, Seto ware, Mino ware, Nagoya paintings, etc., Yokoyama Museum of Art, Yokoyama Art Museum)

Naoshige Yoshida 吉田直重

Marks from the following: "超技の世界,「瀬戸焼・美濃焼・名古屋絵付など」, 横山美術館, 横山美術館" (The World of Super-Techniques, Seto ware, Mino ware, Nagoya paintings, etc., Yokoyama Museum of Art, Yokoyama Art Museum)

A cloisonné craftsman of a cloisonné company who, together with his father, Yoshida Nagashige, attempted to develop cloisonné on porcelain from 1864 to around 1872. In 1877, his work exhibited by the cloisonné company at the First National Industrial Exhibition won the Phoenix Emblem Award. There are records that he also used clay bodies made by potters from Seto.

Takifuji Manjiro 瀧藤萬次郎

Marks from the following: "超技の世界,「瀬戸焼・美濃焼・名古屋絵付など」, 横山美術館, 横山美術館" (The World of Super-Techniques, Seto ware, Mino ware, Nagoya paintings, etc., Yokoyama Museum of Art, Yokoyama Art Museum)

Takifuji Manjiro was a ceramics and porcelain exporter who dedicated himself to the development of the painted ceramic processing and sales industry in Nagoya. After becoming independent as a ceramics trader in 1874 (Meiji 7), he focused on exporting mainly Seto ware. In 1880 (Meiji 13), he installed a painting kiln in his shop and invited ceramic painters from Kutani to export numerous Kinrande works, featuring Kutani-style overglaze painting on Seto's white porcelain. The flamboyant Nagoya style of painting proved extremely popular overseas, establishing Nagoya as a center of the export ceramics industry. Takifuji Manjiro exhibited and won awards at the Paris World's Fair in 1900 and the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904

Yasuda

Marks from the following: "横山美術館300選" (Yokoyama Museum of Art's 300 Selections)

"Yasuda-made" 「安田造」mark
Early to mid (late) Meiji period

Yokoi Sosuke 横井惣助

Marks from the following: "超技の世界,「瀬戸焼・美濃焼・名古屋絵付など」, 横山美術館, 横山美術館" (The World of Super-Techniques, Seto ware, Mino ware, Nagoya paintings, etc., Yokoyama Museum of Art, Yokoyama Art Museum)

During the Tenpo era (1830-1844), he began his ceramic painting business in Nagoya. He specialized in gold leaf painting, and in this work, he painted flower and bird motifs in maki-e (gold lacquer) on an iron glaze. He exhibited at the first and second National Industrial Exhibitions, winning the Phoenix Emblem Award at the first exhibition.

Old Noritake ware

Marks from the following: "横山美術館300選" (Yokoyama Museum of Art's 300 Selections)

Gold Impaste & Cobalt
Gold Relief - A type of raised decoration technique, where a raised base is applied to the fired clay body, and then a liquid called water gold (gold dissolved in aqua regia) is applied with a brush and fired. After firing, polishing with an agate rod or sand brings out a brilliant luster, and the raised gold creates a gorgeous and opulent atmosphere. This is a representative technique of Old Noritake. Real gold was used for the decoration of export ceramics. Real gold has a high gold content, and the higher the gold content, the more beautiful the golden color.
Cobalt (lapis lazuli) - To achieve the vibrant lapis lazuli color, cobalt oxide, sourced from overseas, was used as a coloring agent. First, a deep, dark blue body, known as lapis lazuli, was created, on which gold leaf and gold relief were applied, and then Western-style landscape paintings were hand-painted. It is believed that this piece was created with a strong awareness of the cobalt porcelain of Sèvres, France, which was popular in overseas markets at the time.

Museum Examples
Yokoyama Museum of Art

Portrait
Transfer paper, which allows for the mass printing of the same design, was first imported from Germany in the mid-Meiji period. It was extremely expensive and used only for luxury goods. This precious transfer paper was favored by real people who were popular in Europe at the time, such as Queen Louise of Prussia, Marie Antoinette of France, and Madame Récamier.
Museum Examples
Yokoyama Museum of Art

Molded - Also known as the mold casting method, this technique involves creating a plaster mold from a sculpted prototype of a person, animal, or other figure. Slip is then poured into the plaster mold to form the relief, which is then fired. A major characteristic is its three-dimensional form, and to further enhance this effect, a special painting technique called blurring is used during coloring. In addition to people, animals such as horses and dogs are frequently used as motifs, and decorative plates, as well as vases and mugs, were commonly produced.

Museum Examples
Yokoyama Museum of Art

Beading, Jewels, & Moriage
Beading - This is the most difficult decorative technique among the raised porcelain techniques, and is also called dotted porcelain. Using the slip trailing technique, slip is raised in dots, then fired, and finally decorated with gold or paint, followed by another firing. This dotted porcelain work requires uniformity in size and spacing, demanding incredibly meticulous work. Furthermore, proper control of the firing temperature is essential, as high temperatures will cause the dots to detach from the porcelain body, while low temperatures will prevent them from adhering properly.
Jewels - This is a type of raised embroidery technique, also known as enamel embroidery or jewel embroidery, which involves creating raised designs using glossy, glassy enamel. A wide variety of colors are used, and the combination of raised enamel in red, yellow, blue, green, and pink with gold dots creates a luxurious decoration. The colorful and glossy raised designs look as if gemstones like rubies and sapphires are embedded in them, hence the names "jewels" or "jewels."
Moriage - This technique of decorating the surface of pottery in three dimensions is the most representative technique of Old Noritake. There are many types of raised decoration techniques, such as slip-trailing, pasted decoration, and brushwork, but many Old Noritake pieces utilize a combination of these techniques. Its most distinctive feature is its extremely meticulous and delicate finish. This exquisite decorative technique was highly praised when exported to Europe and America, where it is called "MORIAGE" in English. In Japan, it is also called "dekomori" (凸盛).

Museum Examples
Yokoyama Museum of Art

Tapestry - When fired at high temperatures, the cloth burns away, leaving a bare clay body with the cloth attached. This creates a canvas-like effect, sometimes called a "crepe finish." A rough, linen-like cloth is applied to the soft, unglazed surface immediately after shaping, creating a textured surface to which landscapes and flowers are painted. The crepe areas are left unglazed, resulting in a matte finish that highlights its unique characteristics. Due to its complex production process, this piece is highly rare among Old Noritake works.

Museum Examples
Yokoyama Museum of Art

Lusterware - Luster refers to gloss or shine, and it was a technique frequently used in Old Noritake Art Deco pieces. By applying silver or copper metal oxides to a lead glaze with a brush or sponge and firing it in a reduced flame, a glossy shine appears. Although it has the drawback of the glaze being prone to peeling due to the thin surface film, its metallic shine gives it a luxurious appearance, and it became extremely popular in the United States from the early 1920s.

Museum Examples
Yokoyama Museum of Art

Coralene - It was called by many and became popular. Highly decorative Coralene works were produced for 10 years starting around 1907 (Meiji 40). Colorful gradients were applied to incandescent writing using a colored (post-formed) paste, and the glass was strengthened. The technique involved attaching the writing and firing it, and it sparkles depending on the angle of the light. The name Coralene comes from the English word for "time" and the way it is formed, and it is said that the rough texture resembles that of Coralene.

Marks from the following: "横山美術館300選" (Yokoyama Museum of Art's 300 Selections)