GENERAL DESCRIPTION
After several failed attempts to hire a Japanese porcelain painter, Rookwood Pottery founder Maria Longworth Nichols convinced Kataro Shirayamadani to join the firm in 1887. Nichols and Shirayamadani met the previous year at the Thirteenth Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, where Shirayamadani and other artisans appeared in a traveling “Japanese Village.” The master decorator remained at Rookwood Pottery from 1887 until his death in 1848, a period of 52 years during which he contributed to the pottery's international acclaim.
The incised dragon that slithers across the front of this vase is typical of Shirayamadani's oeuvre, predominated by Japanese motifs. The master decorator expertly applied Rookwood Pottery's "Tiger Eye" glaze, noted for its luster and notorious for its unpredictability, to the design, highlighting the head and serpentine body of the dragon with flecks of gold. The firm retained this vase, originally one of a pair, for inclusion in its display at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, for which it was awarded the grand prix.
Drawn from
- DMA unpublished material.
- Hannah Sigur, The Influence of Japanese Art on Design (Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2008), 195.
NOTES
I updated Provenance in TMS.
DMA unpublished material = Total Object Summary (dated August 15, 1991, copy in Collections Records Object File)
HAB updated geo x refs in TMS, removed TMS pending tag
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
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RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1991: David Rago Arts & Crafts, Trenton, New Jersey [1]
From 1991: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from the above [1], [2]
[1] See David Rago Arts & Crafts invoice (dated May 14, 1991, copy in Collections Records Object File)
[2] See Acquisition Record (dated June 25, 1991, copy in Collections Records Object File)
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Cooper Hewitt~View designs by Kataro Shirayamadani in the collection of the Cooper Hewitt.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1991.56
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General Description
After several failed attempts to hire a Japanese porcelain painter, Rookwood Pottery founder Maria Longworth Nichols convinced Kataro Shirayamadani to join the firm in 1887. Nichols and Shirayamadani met the previous year at the Thirteenth Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, where Shirayamadani and other artisans appeared in a traveling “Japanese Village.” The master decorator remained at Rookwood Pottery from 1887 until his death in 1848, a period of 52 years during which he contributed to the pottery's international acclaim.
The incised dragon that slithers across the front of this vase is typical of Shirayamadani's oeuvre, predominated by Japanese motifs. The master decorator expertly applied Rookwood Pottery's "Tiger Eye" glaze, noted for its luster and notorious for its unpredictability, to the design, highlighting the head and serpentine body of the dragon with flecks of gold. The firm retained this vase, originally one of a pair, for inclusion in its display at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, for which it was awarded the grand prix.
Drawn from
- DMA unpublished material.
- Hannah Sigur, The Influence of Japanese Art on Design (Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2008), 195.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
I updated Provenance in TMS.
DMA unpublished material = Total Object Summary (dated August 15, 1991, copy in Collections Records Object File)
HAB updated geo x refs in TMS, removed TMS pending tag
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1991: David Rago Arts & Crafts, Trenton, New Jersey [1]
From 1991: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from the above [1], [2]
[1] See David Rago Arts & Crafts invoice (dated May 14, 1991, copy in Collections Records Object File)
[2] See Acquisition Record (dated June 25, 1991, copy in Collections Records Object File)
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
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Objects
number
Equals
1991.56
source file
object_notes_4_a-0144.xml.nores