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Namikawa Sosuke (1847-1910) developed a technique of totally wireless cloisonné; the elimination of wire enabled him to create elaborate designs which have the look of painted decoration. The technique is called musen- shippo (wireless cloisonné). Namikawa Sosuke was brought to the world's attention by Siegfried Bing at the Gallery Art Nouveau in Paris and again at the Chicago World's Fair in 1890.
The highly artistic work of Namikawa Sosuke, of Tokyo, stands practically in a class apart from the cloisonne enamel, and is known as Musen-jippo, or cloison-less enamel. In this work, which came into prominence about 1880 and which has been brought to a high degree of perfection by the inventor, Namikawa Sosuke, and his son, beautiful and imperishable pictures in vitrified pastes are produced, remarkable as to technical skill, harmonious and at the same time rich in coloring, and possessing pictorial qualities which could not reasonably have been looked for in such material. There is nothing like them to be found in any other country, and they stand at an immeasurable distance above the ordinary cloisonne creations. The design, which is usually placed in a monochromatic field of low tone, is framed, at the outset, with a ribbon of thin metal, after the manner of ordinary cloisonne-ware; but as the work proceeds, the cloisons are hidden, — unless their presence would contribute to give necessary emphasis to the design, — and the final result is a picture in vitrified enamel. Vases, panels, bowls, flat pictures several ft. sq., depicting fowls, animals, land and seascapes, flowers, and a wide variety of subjects, are to be found in this uniquely beautiful work in an almost endless scale of shades and tones. Not a few of the motifs are the most famous paintings of the early masters, which are copied in enamel with a fidelity to the originals that is extraordinary. In reproducing some of the old pictures, the cloisons are hidden or omitted, or freely used, and the reproductions are so minute and so faithful that the particular shades of antiquity belonging to the silk or paper on which the picture was originally painted appear on the copies. The intricate and tedious process of painting the enamels on, then the firing and polishing, can be seen by travelers at Mr. Namikawa's studio (English spoken) at 8, Shiny emon-cho, Nihonbashi-ku, Tokyo. Here, too, are made many of the beautiful gold-enameled decorations used by the Imperial Japanese Gov't.
Source: Terry's Japanese Empire - Houghton Mifflin - 1914
