Our friend at idcloisonne.com has some interesting info:
"The original center for cloisonne production in Japan was Nagoya. A nearby village called Toshima, became known as Shippo-Mura (the cloisonne village), the initiator there was Hayashi Shogoro, in 1856, an early student of Kaji Tsunekichi (1808-1883) and instructor to Hayashi Kodenji. In the following decades, several cloisonne master-craftsmen had their workshops or studios located in or near the city of Nagoya: Hattori Tadasaburo, Ota Tameshiro, Hayashi Kodenji and Ando Jubei.
Namikawa Yasuyuki, a high status samurai, studied the art of cloisonne in Nagoya, then established his own studio and workshop in Kyoto. He instructed Inaba Nanaho (or Shichiho), a textile engineer, who moved on to create his own cloisonne in a Kyoto workshop in 1888, calling it the Inaba Cloisonne Company. When Japanese cloisonne became a sought-after collectible by the upper class Europeans, Ando Jubei opened a shop in the Ginza district of Tokyo, in 1887, while keeping his workshop in Nagoya.
Namikawa Sosuke, a businessman, had no training in the art of cloisonne, he bought the Nagoya Cloisonne Company who had a branch in Tokyo, moved the whole operation there, and hired the most experienced and talented craftsmen he could find.
During this golden era of Japanese cloisonne: 5 workshops-studios and their master craftsmen were HIGHLY valued and recognized, they had the honor of being the official purveyors to the Meiji imperial palaces and their court gentry."
Don't be sorry to miss the recent threads, Stefany, since one thread discussed clasps, which you don't have one! and the other discussed the dragon puffy pendants and there are no dragons to be seen on your beads. these beads belong right where they are now in this japanese cloisonne 101 type of thread. :) Well, alright!
I can't think of even one bead that I've ever seen to compare to these, I like them alot, thank you for showing them here. They must be old, in my experience the old beads are very seldomly seen, kept safe by their owners and worn on occasion if at all. Still, no real understanding of why there have been nothing to compare on eBay, etc.
Some beads resemble italian glass millefiori so much, like its cloisonne on top of a finished millefiori. Can guess that is what they are sold under/as sometimes. I also really admire these hypnotic designs as you surely admire in them to be sure. There are other beads in your necklace that resemble the Chinese Mandarin court hollow enamle beads. I wanted to add a pic to join in but may have nothing to compare.
The 4 and 5 petal floral designs dominate the Chinese art, the unusual becomes anything depicted that is other then a flower. I have been interested in learning to tell Japanese cloisonne apart from Chinese, as you may find there are so few examples to be 'seen.' Since your Japanese cloisonne is so different then the Chinese cloisonne of same general era, I'll enjoy to ever see any thing like your's.
I've wondered if the vase and cloisonneware artists were also the bead artists and doubt that they were. The vases are more expensive/valuable. The beads were probably done by younger apprentices who later may have become the vase masters. There is so much more space on a vase to be creative, its beads that can be so remarkable when their artist taken the liberties to do extra special motiffs, these beads really are extra-special, the matching beads even appear to have subtle differences, so glad to have gotten to see the big picture posted.
Please, can you post more pics...close-up pics, of all the different beads, I want...need to see more details! All those wonderful & now old details!
Maybe I do have pics of some Japanese cloisonne beads among all these Chinese, will enjoy looking through them all to find any.
In any 101 type learning, to learn the very basics we'll need more, like pics of modern Japanese copies if there are any. Maybe I'll look for some modern stuff, only maybe the new stuff looks nothing like the old and not worth the time and effort since the new may be very easy to spot/identify just as how the traditional Chinese motiffs appear to have slowly been abandoned/retired from the art.
I am not surprised when there is confusion between Japanese and Chinese cloisonne -they do overlap.
In this particular case, distinction is in the color of the enamel, the pattern repeated in the design and basic shape and construction of the sphere.
Congratulations on owning some of the most beautiful beads ever made, in my opinion. And Japanese cloisonne gets even better than this.
Stefany, these beads are in your book; if they had been labeled as Chinese, I would probably have mentioned this to you sooner.
the "eyes" design is only on part of the smaller beads -their other sides may have florals or planets in the sky patterns...
thanks for the clarification i think that these were also discussed with you when you were in London some time, and whether the japanese and/or chinese were getting not only glass beads but enamels made in each other's countries...
Thank you for posting pictures of these beads; they are gorgeous! I've never seen beads like them (which may not be saying much since I'm a novice). If anyone has any pictures of similar beads they would be so kind to post, I'd really appreciate seeing them.
