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Kakiemon (Japanese: 柿右衛門) is a style of Japanese porcelain, with overglaze decoration called "enameled" ceramics. It was originally produced at the factories around Arita, in Japan's Hizen province (today, Saga Prefecture) from the Edo period's mid-17th century onwards.^[1] The style shares much in common with the Chinese "Famille Verte" style. The quality of its decoration was highly prized in the West and widely imitated by major European porcelain manufacturers during the Baroque era.

History

The potter Sakaida Kakiemon (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 upon Sakaida by his lord, after he perfected a design of twin persimmons (kaki), developing as well the distinctive palette of soft red, yellow, blue and turquoise green now associated with the Kakiemon style.^[2]

The name Kakiemon is sometimes used as a generic term describing Arita waresorImari 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. Shards from the kakiemon kiln site at Shimo-Nangawarayama (下南川原山) show that blue-and-white sometsuke and celadon wares were also produced.^[3][4]

Kakiemon porcelain was exported from Japan into Europe via the Dutch East India Company, and beginning in the 1580s, through a variety of other avenues. King Augustus II the Strong of Poland and Mary II of England both owned examples.^[5] The earliest inventory to include Japanese porcelain in Europe was made at Burghley House in 1688; these included a 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 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, Saxony, 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.^[6] Sculptures were also created, an example being the Kakiemon elephants (British Museum).

Meissen copies could be extremely close to the originals; alternatively, the factory painters sometimes just borrowed designs, and used them with other shapes and styles.

The style was also adapted in Germany and Austria by the Du Paquier manufactory and in France at Chantilly, Mennecy and Saint-Cloud. It was also an influence on Dutch Delft pottery and Chinese export porcelain.^[6]

Export of Japanese Kakiemon porcelain to Europe stopped in mid-18th century when China resumed export to Europe. Since both Kakiemon and Imari styles were already so popular among Europeans, Chinese export porcelain copied both styles.^[7]

In 1971 the craft technique was designatedanImportant Intangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government; a double climbing kiln in Arita used for the firing of Kakiemon has also been designated a National Historic Site.^[8][9]

Sakaida Kakiemon XIV (26 August 1934 – 15 June 2013) was designated a Living National Treasure by the government.^[10] His son Sakaida Kakiemon XV became the new head in February 2014.^[11]

• 
  Kakiemon Hizen ware pair of model elephants. 1660–1690
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  Meissen hard porcelain vase Indianische Blume ("Flowers of the Indies") design. 1735
• 
  Chantilly porcelain pot, painted with bamboo and prunus and two birds. 1730–1735
• 
  Du Paquier manufactory plate with shiba onko design, hard-paste porcelain with overglaze enamels. c. 1750
• 
  Chinese porcelain dish with ribbed edge, painted with bound hedges, bamboo blossoms and two flying birds on the mirror. 1700–ca.1750

Characteristics

The 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. 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 attempted to reproduce nigoshide and succeeded in 1953. It has continued to be produced since then.

Pieces 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" (shiba onko), illustrating a Chinese folk tale where a sage saves his friend who has fallen into a large fishbowl.

See also

• Chinese porcelain
• Intangible Cultural Properties of Japan

Notes

References

Further reading

• Takeshi, Nagatake (1979). Japanese ceramics from the Tanakamaru collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

External links

Media related to Kakiemon at Wikimedia Commons

• Official homepage of Kakiemon