Vase with Fish Decoration

1910
Tsukada Shukyo

In a Japan only recently opened up to the outside world, the new government of the Meiji period (1868−1912) was determined to take the modernity of the western countries as its model to achieve rapid national progress. It took part in the World’s Fairs held there and sold articles that generated a great demand. This vase was shown at the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910 in London, which featured numerous Japanese exhibitors, and won a gold medal for its creator Tsukada Shukyo (1848−1918), a craftsman of the very first rank in the field of metalwork who was appointed Artist to the Imperial Household in 1913. Finely hammered into the shape of a traditional fisherman’s basket, the vase is decorated with various fish worked in silver, gold and inlaid copper as well as traditional alloys with gilding and chasing to enhance the richness of its visual effects. While encompassing a variety of aesthetics, the Meiji style is deeply rooted in the traditional subjects, forms and techniques of
Asia. The marked naturalism of the representation of the animal world shown here is not completely alien to the Asian tradition but clearly displays the influence of Western realism.