Books, catalogues and databases

Open databases and catalogues

• ColBase, National Institutes for Cultural Heritage ↗
  Integrated collections database for the Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Kyushu National Museums.
• e-Museum, National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties ↗
  Images and texts on designated works.
• Art Platform Japan: Dictionary of Artists in Japan ↗
  Agency for Cultural Affairs artist biographies, in English.
• Cultural Heritage Online ↗
  Japanese national cultural heritage database.
• JAANUS: Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System ↗
  Dictionary of Japanese art terms used in our glossary.
• Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan ↗
  Collection database, including works by Imperial Household Artists.
• Khalili Collections: Japanese Art of the Meiji Period ↗
  Catalogue of the largest private collection of Meiji art.
• V&A Explore the Collections ↗
  Including works bought from the international exhibitions.
• YabuMeizan.com ↗
  The archive of Yabu Meizan's works, auction records and marks.
• Illustrated catalogue of Japanese fine art exhibits, St Louis 1904 (Internet Archive) ↗
  Public-domain exhibition catalogue.
• Illustrated catalogue of Japanese modern fine arts, Japan–British Exhibition 1910 (Internet Archive) ↗
  Public-domain exhibition catalogue.

Books

• Oliver Impey & Malcolm Fairley (eds.), Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan, Nasser D. Khalili Collection (multi-volume; editors confirmed by BADA)
• Joe Earle, Splendors of Meiji (1999); Splendors of Imperial Japan (2002)
• Victor Harris, Japanese Imperial Craftsmen (British Museum, 1994)
• Gregory Irvine, Japanese Cloisonné: The Seven Treasures (V&A, 2006)
• Lawrence A. Coben & Dorothy C. Ferster, Japanese Cloisonné (Weatherhill, 1982)
• Louis Lawrence, Satsuma (1991)
• Gisela Jahn, Meiji Ceramics (2004)
• Laura Bordignon, The Golden Age of Japanese Okimono (2010)
• Herbert Ponting, In Lotus-Land Japan (Macmillan, 1910)
• Jan Dees, ‘Shirayama Shosai’, Arts of Asia, Mar–Apr 2002
• Earle, Joe (1999). Splendors of Meiji: Treasures of Imperial Japan. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection. St Petersburg, Fla.: Broughton International. ISBN 1874780137. Cited in the English Wikipedia article on Imperial Household Artists.
• Hotta-Lister, Ayako (1999). The Japan-British Exhibition of 1910: Gateway to the Island Empire of the East. Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library. Cited in the English Wikipedia article on the exhibition.

Edition details for the books are to be checked before they are cited in a record.

Annotated bibliography

Printed works cited in the auction lot essays we hold. Each annotation says what the work is and where it is cited; we have not yet consulted every volume directly, and say so.

1. Impey, Oliver, and Malcolm Fairley, eds. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art. 5 vols. London: Kibo Foundation, 1995.

   The multi-volume catalogue of the Khalili Collection (metalwork, enamels, ceramics and essays). It is the comparison most often cited in the Bonhams lot essays in our database.¹

2. Hida Toyojirō. "Exporters of Meiji Decorative Arts." In Impey and Fairley, eds., Khalili Collection, vol. 1, Selected Essays, 1995, pp. 70–96.

   An essay on the merchants who commissioned and exported Meiji work; cited for the Tokyo commissioner Kawaguchi Yohei.²

3. Earle, Joe. Splendors of Imperial Japan: Arts of the Meiji Period from the Khalili Collection. London: Khalili Family Trust, 2002.

   An exhibition catalogue drawn from the Khalili Collection; cited for comparable iron work by Kajima Ikkoku.²

4. Pollard, Clare. Master Potter of Meiji Japan: Makuzu Kōzan (1842–1916) and His Workshop. Oxford, 2002.

   The monograph on Kōzan; Christie's cites it for dating a Kōzan mark to about 1892.³

5. Jahn, Gisela. Meiji Ceramics: The Art of Japanese Export Porcelain and Satsuma Ware, 1868–1912. Stuttgart: Arnoldsche, 2004.

   A survey of Meiji export ceramics; cited for a Seifū vase in the Ashmolean (pl. 199).⁴

6. Hida Toyorō et al. Namikawa Yasuyuki and Japanese Cloisonné: The Allure of Meiji Cloisonné. Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 2017.

   Exhibition catalogue for Namikawa Yasuyuki; cited for a jar in the Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum (cat. no. 40).⁵

7. Wakayama Homatsu (Takeshi). Kinkō jiten (A Dictionary of Metalworkers). Tokyo: Yūzankaku, 1972.

   A reference dictionary of Japanese metalworkers; cited for the metalworker Katsumine (Yano).²

8. Tomkinson, Michael. A Japanese Collection. 2 vols. London, 1898.

   A collector's catalogue of 1898. Its entries are early evidence for when and how pieces were described in Britain.⁶

9. Brinkley, Frank. Artistic Japan at Chicago. Yokohama, 1893.

   A contemporary description of Japanese works sent to the 1893 World's Fair; cited for Honda Kōzaburō's aventurine grounds.⁷

10. Kaneko Kenji, ed. Bessatsu Taiyō: Meiji no sōshoku kōgei. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1990.

    An illustrated survey of Meiji decorative crafts; cited for a comparable cloisonné goshoguruma.⁸