Khalili Collection of Japanese Art


The Khalili Collection of Japanese Art is a private collection of decorative art from Meiji-era Japan, assembled by the British-Iranian scholar, collector and philanthropist Nasser D. Khalili. With more than 1,400 objects in total, it is comparable only to the collection of the Japanese imperial family in terms of size and quality. The collection includes metalwork, enamels, ceramics, and lacquered objects, including works by artists of the imperial court that were exhibited at the Great Exhibitions of the late 19th century. Rather than covering the whole range of Meiji-era decorative art, Khalili has focused on objects of the highest technical and artistic quality. He observed that Japanese arts were less well-documented than European arts of the same period, despite being technically superior: "Whilst one could argue it is relatively easy to replicate a Fabergé, to replicate the work of the Japanese master is nigh on impossible." The collection is one of eight assembled, published, and exhibited by Khalili, and one of three that feature art works from Japan, along with the Khalili Collection of Kimono and the Khalili Collection of Enamels of the World.
Although the collection is not on permanent public display, its objects are lent to cultural institutions and have appeared in many exhibitions from 1994 onwards. Exhibitions drawing exclusively from the collection have been held at the British Museum, Israel Museum, Van Gogh Museum, Portland Museum, Moscow Kremlin Museums, and other institutions worldwide. As well as assembling these collections, Khalili founded the Kibo Foundation to promote the study of art and design of the Meiji era, publishing scholarship about the collection and its historical context.

Background: the Meiji Era

The Meiji era was a period of modernisation and industrialisation, during which Japan opened itself to the world. It saw a rapid introduction of Western culture to Japan, and also of Japanese culture into Europe and America. The Khalili Collection has been used in research to study how Japanese art was widely available in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th century, and influenced European art, especially Vincent van Gogh and the impressionists.
During the embrace of Western influences, demand for Japanese art declined within Japan itself. At the same time, art objects came to be a large part of Japan's exports, actively promoted by the government which wanted to reduce the country's trade deficit with the West. The government took an active interest in the standard of art exported, exerting quality control via the Hakurankai Jimukyoku. The major exhibitions to which Japan sent the best examples of its arts and crafts included the Vienna World Exhibition of 1873, the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1901 in St. Louis.
. Bronze, silver, gilt, shibuichi and shakudō. Circa 1900

Objects

Twenty-five of the objects have emblems showing that they were commissioned by the Emperor as gifts for foreign dignitaries and royalty. Another twelve were made especially for the great international exhibitions around the turn of the 20th century.

Metalwork

Khalili's collection and documentation of Meiji era metalwork is a major factor in the resurgence of interest in the topic in recent decades. The 1995 catalogue lists 161 items of metalwork, exemplifying a variety of techniques and with themes from the history and legends of both Japan and China. Meiji era artists created ambitious works in cast bronze for display at world's fairs, impressing American reviewers. One of the metalworkers who exhibited at these fairs, eventually appointed an Artist to the Imperial Household, was Suzuki Chokichi, whose art name was Kako. Several of his works, including two intricately decorated incense burners, are in the collection.
enamel panels, 1900-1905
The past history of samurai weaponry equipped Japanese metalworkers to create metallic finishes in a wide range of colours. By combining and finishing copper, silver and gold in different proportions they could give the impression of full-colour decoration. Some of these metalworkers were appointed Artists to the Imperial Household, including Kano Natsuo, Unno Shomin, Namekawa Sadakatsu, and Jomi Eisuke II, each of whom is represented in the collection. Other highlights include an elephant incense burner by Shoami Katsuyoshi, a sculpture of the deity Susanoo-no-Mikoto by Otake Norikuni, and a group of iron pieces by the Komai family of Kyoto, decorated with gold with a process known in the West as damascening.

Enamels

During the Meiji era, Japanese cloisonné enamel reached a technical peak, producing items more advanced than any that had existed before. Artists experimented with pastes and with the firing process to produce ever larger blocks of enamel, with less need for cloisons. Many enamel objects were exhibited in the Fine Art section of the National Industrial Exposition of 1895, The best examples from this period, including some in the Khalili Collection, could not be replicated today. Designs went from copies of Chinese objects to a distinctively Japanese style. The collection's near-300 cloisonné enamel objects include many works by each of three notable artists: Namikawa Yasuyuki, Namikawa Sōsuke, and Ando Jubei. These are regarded as the three great innovators of the golden age of Japanese cloisonné: they developed new firing techniques and reduced the visibility of wires. Namikawa Yasuyuki and Namikawa Sōsuke are known for introducing pictorial styles of cloisonné. This is exemplified in the collection by an incense burner by Namikawa Yasuyuki, created for presentation to the Emperor, that combines enamel with gold and shakudō to depict a landscape scene. Researchers have used the collection to establish a chronology of the development of Japanese enamelling.
Among the cloisonné enamel works is a trio of vases that have become known as the Khalili Imperial Garniture. Exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, United States, in 1893, they were described as "the largest examples of cloisonné enamel ever made". From the early 1990s to 2019, Khalili acquired the three pieces, including the third which had been considered 'lost' to the art trade. The design of the vases includes the symbolic use of a dragon, chickens, and eagles, on scenes representing the four seasons of the year.
panel by Shibata Zeshin, 1888-1890

Lacquer

Some of the pieces in the lacquer collection go back to the 17th century. A lacquer artist strongly represented is Shibata Zeshin, who has been called "Japan's greatest lacquerer". His works have an idiosyncratic, highly decorative style and the hundred works in the Khalili Collection of Japanese Art merited a dedicated volume in the 1995 set of catalogues. A highlight of the lacquer collection is a cabinet by Harui Komin, commissioned by the Japanese Crown Prince for presentation to the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom. Other highlights include works by Nakayama Komin and Shirayama Shosai, who along with Shibata Zeshin are considered the three great late lacquerers of Japan. There are many examples of shibayama technique, in which designs are carved into natural materials which are inlaid in the lacquer.
, circa 1910

Porcelain

The collection includes, among other porcelain works, more than eighty by Miyagawa Kozan, described in 1910 as Japan's greatest living ceramic artist. Kozan was the second ceramicist ever to be appointed Artist to the Imperial Household. He and his workshop transformed underglaze blue porcelain, decorating with subtleties of colour that had not previously been possible. He also made award-winning objects with flambé or crystalline glaze. Some of his works showed an influence of European graphic design, while he combined traditional Japanese and Chinese techniques with new technologies from the West. As he and his son Hanzan prepared works for international exhibition, they became increasingly ambitious, introducing new colours, designs and sculptural effects which are exemplified in the collection.
, circa 1910

Earthenware

The 171 earthenware objects in the collection include some by Yabu Meizan and his contemporaries, typically decorated with enamel and gold. Meizan was not only a prolific producer but won multiple awards at national and international exhibitions, where his creations were exhibited as works of art. The collection shows that Meizan used Chinese as well as Japanese motifs in his decoration, drawing from sources including Buddhist imagery and the prints of Hiroshige. His designs became more intricate, sometimes using a thousand motifs in a single art work, while towards the end of his career he took a different approach, covering whole vases in a single motif. Kinkozan Sobei VII and Takbe Shoko are other distinctive decorators represented in the collection.

Textiles

The collection also includes over 200 examples of silk textile work from the latter half of the Meiji era, mostly produced by workshops in Kyoto. One of these was presented to Nicholas II of Russia by the Emperor during the former's visit to Japan in 1891. Other items were exhibited at Japan's fifth National Industrial Exposition of 1903. These included works by Nishimura Sozaemon, an embroidery firm appointed by the Imperial household.

Publications

In 1995, the collection was documented in a multi-volume catalogue by Oliver Impey, reader in Japanese Art at the University of Oxford, and Malcolm Fairley, co-owner of the Asian Art Gallery in London. A separate volume of essays uses the collection to explore the phenomenon of Japonisme: the enthusiasm for Japanese arts in late 19th century Europe. There are also catalogues from various exhibitions.
The following exhibitions were drawn exclusively from the Khalili Collection of Japanese Art.
Items from the collection were lent to the following exhibitions:
In June 2014, the Khalili Foundation made two donations of Japanese art to the UNESCO art collection. A pair of large cloisonné enamel vases were accompanied by a pair of bronze vases depicting birds in high relief.