Japanese Works of Art

Joan B Mirviss uses Asia Week New York to launch its spring exhibition Six Celestials, featuring works by modern artists who laid the groundwork for contemporary Japanese clay work.

Latest sale of props from renowned company features several surprises such as Spanish revivalist chairs

Following equivalent sales in November 2024 and May 2025, Dore & Rees (25% buyer’s premium) in Frome was again offering Japanese objects at the end of last year from the wider collection of Asian works of art formed over more than half a century by Eva and Aubrey Sweet.

Demand for Japanese works was first hit by the so-called ‘Lost Decade’ that followed the collapse of the Japanese economy in 1991. However, changes in fashion, taste and legislation have also impacted prices.

Vase is thought to be from a group that share a provenance to the 1908 Japan-British Exhibition

A recent sale at Whittons (21% buyer’s premium) in Honiton, Devon, included this Meiji or Taisho (1912-26) vase by the Ando Company.

Norfolk auction house TW Gaze has secured permission to sell an Edo period ivory netsuke in the spring.

A recent sale at Marion Antique Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Marion, Massachusetts included a large Meiji vase by Kanamori Soshichi (1821-92).

Working in Japanese urushi lacquer requires patience. Harvested from the sap of the Rhus verniciflua tree, it is built up slowly, layer by layer, each stage requiring careful drying and polishing under controlled conditions.

When he was not crafting lacquer works, the 18th century Japanese artist Ogawa Haritsu spent his time, painting, creating pottery and composing haiku poems.

The latest sale at Alastair Gibson Auctions in Kent was led by a stellar example of Meiji or Taisho era cloisonné: a pair of imperial presentation vases by Nagoya master Hattori Tadasaburo.

The Kiryu Kosho Kaisha (The First Japanese Manufacturing and Trading Company) was set up by the Meiji government after the great success of Japanese crafts at the Weltausstellung 1873 Wien (Vienna world’s fair).

A selection of upcoming auction highlights

Auctions like this don’t come along often these days.

An ivory netsuke described as ‘after Tomotada of Kyoto’ hammered for Can$42,000 (£22,840) against an estimate of Can$1200-1800 at Harrington’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Ontario.

While few will welcome the news that Bonhams – the last of the major auction houses to hold regular sales Japanese works of art in London – is moving its department to Paris (ATG No 2690), there will be opportunities for UK salerooms that continue to plough this selective but occasionally fruitful furrow.

There is no doubt that the Asian art auction market in London’s major salerooms is feeling the squeeze.