Japanese Glass, Enamel & Cloisonné

About this book

Two crafts, one fire — or two hundred entries in one guide? Japanese Glass, Enamel & Cloisonné covers 200 entries in a single uniform format: every entry gives the Region & Materials, the Origins, How to Recognise it in a shop, and Buying & Experience — where to buy, what to check, and how to care for the piece afterwards. Every entry runs to more than 200 words of substance.

Edo kiriko's fine wheels and Satsuma's deep crimson casing; Nagasaki biidoro, Ryukyu's recycled sea colours and Toyama the glass city; blowing, casing, cutting, beads and kiln work; then the enamel empire — Owari's villages, Kyoto's black grounds and hair-fine wires, Tokyo's wireless painting in glass, enamel on porcelain, foil and silver, and light shining through shotai. Forms from guinomi to grand floor vases, the colours from indigo to gold ruby, and the working knowledge that protects a buyer: the sixty-second glass routine, base and back reading, the price ladders of kiriko and shippo, washing, display, travel, repair — and the workshops where you can watch, blow, wind a bead and fire your own enamel.

No photographs: the recognition fields are written for light, hand, base and back instead — backlight, fingertip, rim and reverse — because those are checks a buyer can actually perform in a shop or demand of a listing.

Companion, kept separate: Japanese Traditional Crafts surveyed glass as one material among many. This book is the glass-and-enamel deep dive — regions, techniques, forms and makers across the whole field, every entry written fresh.