JAPAN - Palata umetnosti Madlena

Edo period and the period of Emperor Meiji

The Meiji period is a well-known period in Japanese history when, after almost 300 years of almost entire isolation, Japan initiated open trade with Europe and the West. Thus, Japan experienced a new renaissance in arts, thanks to a great demand for its arts and crafts abroad. This resulted in an expansion of manufacturing and development of a new national style.

The period of Emperor Meiji was the time of rediscovery and refinement of popular arts, while the contrast between the clarity of lines and sublimity of technical craftsmanship experienced its climax. Each of the objects in this museum collection originating from the period of Emperor Meiji testifies to this: large Japanese bronze vases, butsudan (“Buddha’s house”) for religious and ritual purposes, an elegant dressing table made of red japan with black details, a bronze vase with elaborate engravings, a chest made of black wood decorated with metal ornaments, a large ivory vase, a tapestry, a bronze pitcher, satsuma china, etc.

The newly-discovered Japanese culture fascinated numerous merchants from Europe and the world, to quote the impressions of but one of them: “Kyoto is a large-scale warehouse of Japanese products and commodities, and the trading capital of the Empire. Here they process copper, mint money, print books, and manufacture the most sumptuous textiles with gold and silver flowers …”

Kyoto was an exceptionally developed centre in the pre-modern period of Japanese history (more than 90% of embroidered items manufactured in the period of Emperor Meiji were made in Kyoto). However, in the course of the Meiji period, this traditional craft was faced with a grave crisis, as the craftsmen lost their patrons due to the abolishment of the feudal system. Thus, the industry of artistic embroidery turned to foreign markets for business. Beside designing ornamental embroidered pictures, manufactured in the special embossed embroidery technique using exceptionally fine cotton and silk thread typical of Japanese skill of textile-making, other ornamental objects of the same kind are also manufactured such as screens, curtains, and tapestries, etc. Creations of the top artists in the second half of 19^th century are a combination of the skill of artisan embroidery established back in the Edo period and more modern processes. This is how the exquisitely designed pre-modern Japanese embroidery was conceived.