Japanese pair of cloisonné enamel vases signed Hayashi Kodenji Meiji period

Japanese pair of cloisonné enamel oviform vases with everted necks finely worked in silver wire with a continuous scene of egrets wading through a lotus pond amid spatterdock (kouhone 河骨), flowers and tall reeds. The birds are rendered with elegant restraint, their white forms standing in refined contrast to the rich midnight blue ground. The composition is balanced while evoking the quiet movement of water and marshland. The feet of the vases are encircled by bands of geometric floral motifs applied with silver mounts. The bases are signed with the engraved four-character mark Aichi Hayashi Ko (Kodenji) 愛知林小, late Meiji period 1868-1912.

Works by Hayashi Kodenji are celebrated for their technical refinement and sophisticated designs, reflecting the high standards of Japanese cloisonné production during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Scenes of egrets and lotus, long associated in Japanese art with purity, renewal, and seasonal change were especially favoured subjects.

Hayashi Kodenji I 林小伝次(1831-1915) was one of the most important cloisonné artist of his era. In the 1880s he founded the Shippō-chō enamelers guild and later opened a school to teach emerging cloisonné artists. It is thought that he worked for the Shippo Kaisha in Nagoya around 1880-1881. In 1903 he opened a showroom in Nagoya and worked for over 40 years with his son Hayashi Kodenji II (Suguemon). He was recognised at the World Expositions by winning many medals and awards: in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, in 1889 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, and in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. In 1902 he was awarded the most prestigious Medal of the Green Ribbon in Japan. The business continued to thrive through the years under the successive leadership of Kodenji III (Hayashi Tomijirō) and Kodenji IV (Kurakichi).

Reference: 'Japanese Cloisonné: The Seven Treasures', by G. Irvine, Victoria & Albert Museum, 2006, p. 82.

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