LONDON.- Five exquisite items from the Meiji Period, including delicate cloisonné and magnificent ironwork, will lead the Fine Japanese Art auction at Bonhams New Bond Street on 14 May. Estimates for the lots, made by some of the greatest craftsmen of the era, range from £5,000-8,000 to £30,000-40,000.

The top lot of the Meiji Period items in the auction is a fully articulated iron model of a spiny lobster, made by an unknown artisan. Estimated at £30,000-40,000, the model’s reddish-brown body is formed from individually cast, hammered and carved sections, painstakingly crafted to resemble the crustacean’s shell with finely chiselled details. The fully articulated joints allow the model life-like mobility, and it measures 43.7cm (17¼ inches) when the antennae are fully extended.

The Meiji period began in 1868 with the defeat of the forces of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the last feudal military government of Japan, by the armies seeking the restoration of Emperor Meiji. The victory ushered in the new era of Meiji, meaning ‘enlightened rule,’ which lasted until the death of the Emperor on 30 July 1912. Under his rule, Japan underwent social, political and industrial revolution, and emerged as one of the world’s great powers.

The nation’s success during this period was reflected in the quality of its artisans, and Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927), the creator of two items offered at Bonhams, was among the very greatest. Born in 1845, Yasuyuki started a cloisonné business in Kyoto in 1873 which grew to include more than 20 employees by the 1880s, selling to private clients and fulfilling imperial commissions. He won 11 overseas awards between 1876 and 1904, and built such an impressive reputation that his wares were purchased the moment they were unpacked at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universalle, selling for more than ten times their estimated price.

Two cloisonné enamel pieces by Yasuyuki, a jar and cover and a small vase, are offered at Bonhams with estimates of £8,000-12,000 and £12,000-15,000 respectively. The jar, worked with silver wire, depicts three sparrows standing among wild violets, with four sparrows in flight on the reverse. The domed cover is decorated with a band of stylised flower-heads. The vase, meanwhile, bears an all-over design of stylised cherry blossoms and roundels on a midnight-blue ground, worked with silver and gold wire.

The auction will also feature two cloisonné enamel works by Namikawa Sōsuke, one of the greatest craft entrepreneurs of the later Meiji era, best known for his set of 32 decorative panels commissioned for Tokyo’s Akasaka Rikyū Palace in 1909. But it was three decades earlier that Sōsuke began experimenting with musen shippō (wireless enamelling), his most enduring contribution to the art form. Previously, wire was required to fix enamels in place during the firing process, but Sōsuke improved the chemistry of the enamels so that they adhered more securely, allowing him to emulate the effects of brush painting on paper or silk.

The two Sōsuke pieces to be auctioned at Bonhams are a kidney-shaped tray, estimated at £10,000-15,000, and a box and cover, estimated at £5,000-8,000. The tray, worked in musen and silver wire, bears a design of two quails on a ground of pale grey rising to blue, while the reverse depicts cherry blossoms on a dark plum background. The box is decorated in wireless enamel with a prunus branch rising before a full moon.

The auction of these magnificent items follows the highly successful non-selling exhibition of Meiji-era craft, titled ‘Transformation, Summation, Creation’, which took place at Bonhams New York from 12 - 22 March as part of the Asia Week events. The exhibition showcased 22 works by some of the leading Japanese artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.