(pia) The Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt was recently pleased to receive a donation of some three hundred Japanese Cloisonnéworks. A collector who died four years ago, and who shall remain anonymous for the time being, acquired the pieces over a period of some 20 years in the international art trade.
The masterfully crafted objects - ornately decorated vases, plates, vessels and figurines - were mostly created between 1870 and 1935, representing Japan's stupendous craftsmanship, the level of which was first showcased on a larger scale in the Japanese pavilion at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair and met with enthusiasm from a wide audience.
Cloisonné refers to an enameling technique in which fine copper bars are usually applied to a metal core, with different colored glass flows fused between them. While in China the beginnings of this art date back to antiquity and it experienced a new heyday in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), in Japan this artistic craft technique was not adopted from its neighboring country until the 16th century.
In the last third of the 19th century, Japanese craftsmen developed novel decorative techniques in which painterly surface effects in particular attained a previously unknown level. Some of the workshops were placed under imperial protection. Their products were given special significance as official gifts from the state. But the majority of the Cloisonnéworks were created for an upscale international market.
The Museum Angewandte Kunst will present a small selection from its extensive collection of works from 8. October, a small selection from the extensive donation will be on display in the new exhibition cabinet "亞歐堂 meet asian art," which coincides with the exhibition "Yokohama 1868-1912. When Pictures Learned to Shine" opens and, as a forum for events and presentations in the future, will provide changing insights into Asia's contribution to the world's art.
<link http: www.museumangewandtekunst.en _blank>www.museumangewandtekunst.de/
