Khalili Imperial Garniture

During Japan's Meiji era (1868 to 1912), the government actively promoted Japanese arts and crafts abroad by exhibiting the best examples in the world's fairs that were held in America and Europe.[4] Among the items exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition was this garniture with a central incense burner.[2] The three vases are decorated with enamel and silver wire on a copper surface.[5] The eight feet, eight inches (264 cm) height quoted in the 1893 catalogue includes their wooden pedestals.[2] The height of the tall vases is 172 cm (five feet, eight inches).[2][5] The incense burner is topped by an eagle in bronze.[6]

A team of craftsmen, led by Shirozayemon Suzuki of Yokohama and Seizayemon Tsunekawa of Nagoya, took more than four years to construct the three items.[2] The painting was done by Nihonga artist Araki Kanpo (1831–1915), a member of the Japanese Imperial Household's art committee and of the Royal Society of Arts, London.[2]

The idea for the design is credited to "Mr. Shin Shiwoda, Special Counsellor for the Arts of the Japanese Commission for the World's Columbian Exposition".[2] The three vases depict a dragon, chickens, and eagles, respectively representing the virtues of wisdom, honesty and strength.[2] The imagery also has a geographical connotation, with the dragon representing China, the eagles Russia, a rising sun for Japan, chickens for the Korean Islands and the bronze eagle on the central censer representing the United States.[2] The general design also includes the four seasons of the year, with opposite sides of one vase showing autumn and winter scenes.[2] The neck of each vase features a striped red and white pattern with inlaid silver stars, reflecting that they were made to be shown in the United States.[2]

Among the eight collections assembled, published, and exhibited by London-based collector, scholar and philanthropist Nasser Khalili is a collection of Japanese decorative art of the Meiji era, considered to be only equalled by the collection of the Japanese imperial family.[3] Khalili acquired the first vase, depicting eagles, in Los Angeles in the early 1990s.[1] It formed part of a 1999 exhibition of Meiji art in Wilmington, Delaware.[2] The incense burner depicting chickens was in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum until bought by Khalili in 2000.[1] The other vase, depicting a dragon, was considered lost to the antiques trade.[3] In January 2019, it was discovered; it had been the centerpiece of the main dining room of Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley, California,[7] one of the oldest restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area.[8] Frank Spenger, son of the restaurant's founder, had acquired the vase at the 1894 California Midwinter Fair.[8] On 17 February 2019, Khalili bought it for $110,000 at an auction of Spenger family items, thus reuniting the garniture after more than 120 years.[3][8]

• Catalogue entries for EX439, E10, and EX512