Japan, pair of marbled and enamelled vases, Banko, Meiji period.

This pair of porcelain biscuit vases uses two techniques of mixed earths, the technique of nériage (neriage in Japanese) where the earth, part of which is colored, is mixed with a wheel in an almost random way on the belly of the vase and the Nérikomi technique, a term with no equivalent in French, which distinguishes the controlled and deliberate side of the mixture of cut then assembled earths as can be seen on the neck of the vase but also in the clear reserves in the shape of aubergines.

There is a reserve on one side and two on the other side which allow the decoration to mirror each other.

A decoration of insects, bees, wickets and praying mantises in thick colored enamels with a burnished gold highlight, that is to say polished with agate, completes these vases with remarkable technique.

They bear the Banko brand under the base.

They were adorned with a French bronze mount, proving an ancient importation. These bronzes were made in Parisian workshops supplying luxury houses responding to the Asian fashion then in vogue.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has a similar but simpler vase decorated with a bouquet of flowers and quails on an oval reserve.

The example in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London was commissioned in 1875, shortly before the World's Fair in Philadelphia, where the collection was exhibited. This vase is part of a Japanese collection acquired by the Museum at the time for 1,000 pounds, as representative of the history of porcelain and pottery from the earliest times to the present day. Some pieces bore the labels of the South Kensington Museum. The vase was described as marbled biscuit porcelain with enamel and gold decoration from the Banko factory, 31 cm. The vase in the Victoria and Albert Museum is marked Banko, made by Nakayama.

Showing a more accomplished technique, our vases are probably by the same author but a little later and made at the time of the Universal Exhibition of 1878 in Paris.

35 x 15cm.