Kakiemon
Encyclopedia
Kakiemon wares were produced at the factories of Arita
, Saga Prefecture
, Japan from the mid-17th century, with much in common with the Chinese "Famille Verte" style. The superb quality of its enamel
decoration was highly prized in the West and widely imitated by the major European porcelain manufacturers.
In 1971 it was declared an important "intangible cultural treasure" by the Japanese government.
The most known Japanese ceramic styles are Imari
, Arita Blue & White, Fukugawa, Kutani, Banko Earthenware and Satsuma pottery
.
The Japanese potter Kakiemon Sakaida (酒井田柿右衛門, 1596–1666) is popularly credited with being one of the first in Japan to discover the secret of enamel decoration on porcelain
, known as 'Akae'. The name "Kakiemon" was bestowed by his overlord on Sakaida, who had perfected a design of twin persimmons (kaki: persimmon
) and who then developed the distinctive palette of soft red, yellow, bleu and turquoise green. Kakiemon is sometimes used as a generic term describing wares made in the Arita factories using the characteristic Kakiemon overglaze enamels and decorative styles. However, authentic Kakiemon porcelains have been produced by direct descendants, now Sakaida Kakiemon XIV (1934–). Shards from the Kakiemon kiln site at Nangawara show that blue and white and celadon
wares were also produced.
Kakiemon decoration is usually of high quality, delicate and with asymmetric well-balanced designs. These were sparsely applied to emphasize the fine white porcelain background body known in Japan as Nigoshide (milky white) which was used for the finest pieces. Kakiemon wares are usually painted with birds, flying squirrels, the "Quail
and Millet
" design, the "Three Friends of Winter
" (pine
, plum, and bamboo
), flowers (especially the chrysanthemum
, the national flower of Japan) and figural subjects such as the popular "Hob in the Well", illustrating a Chinese folk tale where a sage saves his friend who has fallen into a large fishbowl.
However, because manufacture of NIGOSHIDE is difficult due to hard contraction of the porcelain body during firing, the production was discontinued from the former part of the 18th century to mid-20th century. In this period, Sakaida Kakiemon produced normal 'Akae' wares. Sakaida Kakiemon XII and XIII attempeted to reproduce NIGOSHIDE and succeeded in 1953. It has been manufactured till now.
both owned examples. The earliest inventory to include Japanese porcelain
in Europe was made at Burghley House
, Lincolnshire, in 1688. These included a fabulous standing elephant with its trunk raised and a model of two wrestlers.
Wares included bowls, dishes and plates, often hexagonal, octagonal or fluted with scalloped edges. The famed white "nigoshide" body was only used with open forms, and not for closed shapes such as vases, bottles and teapots, or for figures and animals. The hexagonal Kamiemon vases and covers known as "Hampton Court" vases were named after a pair at Hampton Court Palace, London, recorded in an inventory of 1696. Around 1730, this shape was copied at Meissen
, Germany, which entered into a "sister city" contract with Arita, in 1979. The style was also adopted and copied in Chelsea
and Worcester
in the 1750s and by Samson Ceramics
in the 19th century.
The Kakiemon porcelain proved a major influence on the new porcelain factories of the 18th-century Europe. Meissen copies could be extremely close to the originals, alternatively the factory painters might just borrowed designs and use them with other shapes and styles.
Kakiemon style was also adapted in Germany and Austria
by the Du Paquier and "Vienna
factories" and in France at Chantilly
, Mennecy and Saint-Cloud
. Kakiemon was also an influence on Dutch Delft pottery
and Chinese export porcelain.
Arita, Saga
is a town located in Nishimatsuura District, Saga, Japan. It is known for producing Arita porcelain, one of the traditional handicrafts of Japan. It also holds the largest ceramic fair in Western Japan, the Arita Ceramic Fair...
, Saga Prefecture
Saga Prefecture
is located in the northwest part of the island of Kyūshū, Japan. It touches both the Sea of Japan and the Ariake Sea. The western part of the prefecture is a region famous for producing ceramics and porcelain, particularly the towns of Karatsu, Imari, and Arita...
, Japan from the mid-17th century, with much in common with the Chinese "Famille Verte" style. The superb quality of its enamel
Vitreous enamel
Vitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...
decoration was highly prized in the West and widely imitated by the major European porcelain manufacturers.
In 1971 it was declared an important "intangible cultural treasure" by the Japanese government.
The most known Japanese ceramic styles are Imari
Imari porcelain
Imari porcelain is the name for Japanese porcelain wares made in the town of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. They were exported to Europe extensively from the port of Imari, Saga between latter half of 17th century and former half of 18 th century, Japanese as well as the...
, Arita Blue & White, Fukugawa, Kutani, Banko Earthenware and Satsuma pottery
Satsuma ware
]Satsuma ware , sometimes referred to as "Satsuma porcelain", is a type of Japanese earthenware pottery. It originated in the late 16th century, during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, and is still produced today...
.
The art of enamelling
Porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
, known as 'Akae'. The name "Kakiemon" was bestowed by his overlord on Sakaida, who had perfected a design of twin persimmons (kaki: persimmon
Persimmon
A persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family . The word Diospyros means "the fire of Zeus" in ancient Greek. As a tree, it is a perennial plant...
) and who then developed the distinctive palette of soft red, yellow, bleu and turquoise green. Kakiemon is sometimes used as a generic term describing wares made in the Arita factories using the characteristic Kakiemon overglaze enamels and decorative styles. However, authentic Kakiemon porcelains have been produced by direct descendants, now Sakaida Kakiemon XIV (1934–). Shards from the Kakiemon kiln site at Nangawara show that blue and white and celadon
Celadon
Celadon is a term for ceramics denoting both a type of glaze and a ware of a specific color, also called celadon. This type of ware was invented in ancient China, such as in the Zhejiang province...
wares were also produced.
Kakiemon decoration is usually of high quality, delicate and with asymmetric well-balanced designs. These were sparsely applied to emphasize the fine white porcelain background body known in Japan as Nigoshide (milky white) which was used for the finest pieces. Kakiemon wares are usually painted with birds, flying squirrels, the "Quail
Quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
and Millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
" design, the "Three Friends of Winter
Three Friends of Winter
The Three Friends of Winter, also known as Suihan Sanyou, are the pine, bamboo, and plum. Every year, as the cold days deepen into the winter season, many plants begin to wither. That the pine, bamboo and plum do not was noted by the Chinese. Known by them as Three Friends of Winter, they entered...
" (pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
, plum, and bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
), flowers (especially the chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums, often called mums or chrysanths, are of the genus constituting approximately 30 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae which is native to Asia and northeastern Europe.-Etymology:...
, the national flower of Japan) and figural subjects such as the popular "Hob in the Well", illustrating a Chinese folk tale where a sage saves his friend who has fallen into a large fishbowl.
However, because manufacture of NIGOSHIDE is difficult due to hard contraction of the porcelain body during firing, the production was discontinued from the former part of the 18th century to mid-20th century. In this period, Sakaida Kakiemon produced normal 'Akae' wares. Sakaida Kakiemon XII and XIII attempeted to reproduce NIGOSHIDE and succeeded in 1953. It has been manufactured till now.
Kakiemon in Europe
The Kakiemon porcelain was imported into Europe. Augustus the Strong of Saxony and Mary II of EnglandMary II of England
Mary II was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of...
both owned examples. The earliest inventory to include Japanese porcelain
Japanese pottery
Japanese pottery and porcelain , one of the country's oldest art forms, dates back to the Neolithic period...
in Europe was made at Burghley House
Burghley House
Burghley House is a grand 16th-century country house near the town of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England...
, Lincolnshire, in 1688. These included a fabulous standing elephant with its trunk raised and a model of two wrestlers.
Wares included bowls, dishes and plates, often hexagonal, octagonal or fluted with scalloped edges. The famed white "nigoshide" body was only used with open forms, and not for closed shapes such as vases, bottles and teapots, or for figures and animals. The hexagonal Kamiemon vases and covers known as "Hampton Court" vases were named after a pair at Hampton Court Palace, London, recorded in an inventory of 1696. Around 1730, this shape was copied at Meissen
Meissen
Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche...
, Germany, which entered into a "sister city" contract with Arita, in 1979. The style was also adopted and copied in Chelsea
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a central London borough of Royal borough status. After the City of Westminster, it is the wealthiest borough in England....
and Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
in the 1750s and by Samson Ceramics
Samson Ceramics
Edmé Samson , founder of the ceramics firm Samson, Edmé et Cie , was a famous copyist of porcelain and pottery.-Edme Samson's ceramics:...
in the 19th century.
The Kakiemon porcelain proved a major influence on the new porcelain factories of the 18th-century Europe. Meissen copies could be extremely close to the originals, alternatively the factory painters might just borrowed designs and use them with other shapes and styles.
Kakiemon style was also adapted in Germany and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
by the Du Paquier and "Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
factories" and in France at Chantilly
Chantilly porcelain
Chantilly porcelain is French soft-paste porcelain produced between 1730 and 1800 by the manufactory of Chantilly in Oise, France.-Foundation:...
, Mennecy and Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.Like other communes of the Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine or Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of the wealthiest cities in France, ranked 22nd out of the 36500 in...
. Kakiemon was also an influence on Dutch Delft pottery
Delftware
Delftware, or Delft pottery, denotes blue and white pottery made in and around Delft in the Netherlands and the tin-glazed pottery made in the Netherlands from the 16th century....
and Chinese export porcelain.
Members Of The Kakiemon Family
- Sakaida KakiemonSakaida KakiemonSakaida Kakiemon , or Sakaida Kizaemon was a Japanese potter who invented the style known after him as Kakiemon. He worked in association with Higashijima Tokue, and created the first enamelled porcelain in Japan...
, The 1st Kakiemon - Sakaida Kakiemon XII
- Sakaida Kakiemon XIV, who is a Living National TreasureLiving National Treasure (Japan)is a Japanese popular term for those individuals certified as by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as based on Japan's...
in Japan
See also
- Imari porcelainImari porcelainImari porcelain is the name for Japanese porcelain wares made in the town of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. They were exported to Europe extensively from the port of Imari, Saga between latter half of 17th century and former half of 18 th century, Japanese as well as the...
- Japanese potteryJapanese potteryJapanese pottery and porcelain , one of the country's oldest art forms, dates back to the Neolithic period...
- Korean potteryKorean potteryKorean ceramic history begins with the oldest earthenware from around 8000 BC.-Three Kingdoms pottery:-Goryeo Dynasty porcelain:The Goryeo Dynasty achieved the unification of the Later Three Kingdoms under King Taejo...
- Chinese porcelain
- PotteryPotteryPottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...