A pair of Kakiemon bowls, early 18th century, each of deeply…
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A pair of Kakiemon bowls, early 18th century, each of deeply lobed form, moulded with spiral ribs and painted in blue and turquoise enamels, iron-red and gilding with black outlines, depicting butterflies and sprays of flowers, the interior with a single central flowerhead, 12.6 cm diameter. Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 16 November 1989, lot 588. Private Collection Queensland. A single bowl of this type, exhibited at the Red Cross Exhibition 1915, and Oriental Ceramic Society Exhibition 1956, was sold Sotheby's London, 13 March 1983, lot 194

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  • Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.

    For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.

    Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.
  • Kakiemon Porcelain - Kakiemon porcelain was made from the 16th to the 19th century in the Arita area of Japan, and is generally agreed to include some of the finest porcelain made in Japan. It is decorated with polychrome enamels over glaze, the most popular colours being underglaze blue and enamels of green, blue, turquoise yellow and persimmon red.

    The body of a Kakiemon object is pure white porcelain while the enamel overglaze motifs incorporate Japanese and Chinese designs, but leave much of the white surface unpainted. The name derives from the family of potters who are associated with this style of pottery.

    Early Kakiemon porcelain was unmarked, and marks on later objects were variable and unreliable.

    Kakiemon porcelain was first imported into Europe by the Dutch at the end of the 17th century, and became extremely popular, resulting in Kakiemon-style imitations being produced by European potteries including Bow, Chelsea and Worcester in England, Mennery, Samson and St. Cloud in France, Delft in Holland and Meissen in Germany.

    It's rare for an original Kakiemon object to come onto the market, and almost all sold nowadays is of European origin, and described as Kakiemon pattern or Kakiemon style.

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