Sosuke Namikawa

Japanese: 濤川惣助 - なみかわ・そうすけ

Year of death: February 9, 1910 (Meiji 43)
Year of birth: 1847
He was one of the leading cloisonné artists in Tokyo during the Meiji period. He was on a par with Kyoto's Namikawa Yasuyuki. Born into a farming family in Shimousa Kaijo District (Chiba Prefecture), he moved to Edo at the age of 18 to work as a sake merchant. He later handed over the family business to his younger brother and traveled to inspect the ceramic industries in Seto, Okazaki, Nagoya, and other areas. Learning that cloisonné was highly prized in Europe and the United States, he took over the cloisonné factory of Ahrens & Co. in 1877 (Meiji 10) and planned to export overseas, which was his first encounter with cloisonné. After much effort, he modified the traditional cloisonné technique, which used copper wire as the outline, and developed the so-called wireless cloisonné, which uses paint to freely express patterns in the same way as paintings. He also perfected shading, giving cloisonné the same expressive power as paintings. His work was well received in Europe and the United States, and he won awards at the Grand Exposition of Paris in 1889 and the Domestic Industrial Exposition in 1890, and in 1896 he was appointed an Imperial Household Artist along with Namikawa Yasuyuki. His grave is in Aoyama Cemetery in Minato-ku, Tokyo. His representative works include the "Small Bird Tray with Shippo" (Tokyo University of the Arts), the "Shippo Flower Serving Vessel" (Imperial Household Agency), and the "Shippo Mt. Fuji" (Tokyo National Museum).

(Yoshiaki Yabe)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：明治43.2.9(1910)
生年：弘化4(1847)
明治期の東京を代表する七宝作家。京都の並河靖之と双璧をなした。下総海上郡(千葉県)の農家に生まれ,18歳のとき江戸に出て酒商を営む。のち家業を弟に譲り瀬戸,岡崎,名古屋などの陶業を視察して廻る。七宝が欧米で盛んに賞美されていることを知り,明治10(1877)年アーレンス商会の七宝工場を譲り受け海外輸出を計ったのが,七宝との最初の出会いである。努力の後,銅線を輪郭線とする伝統的な七宝技法を改め,絵の具を使って絵画と同じように自由に絵模様を表す,いわゆる無線七宝を開発した。暈しも完成し,絵画と同じ表現力を七宝に持たせた。その成果は欧米で大好評を得,明治22年のパリ大博覧会,23年の内国勧業博覧会などで受賞し,29年には並河靖之と共に帝室技芸員にあげられた。墓は東京都港区の青山墓地にある。代表作として「七宝小禽図盆」(東京芸大蔵),「七宝花盛器」(宮内庁蔵),「七宝富岳図」(東京国立博物館蔵)などがある。<参考文献>鈴木則夫・榊原悟『日本の七宝』

(矢部良明)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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