NEW-YORK - A special non-selling exhibition of Meiji-era Japanese craft, titled 'Transformation, Summation, Creation', will be held at Bonhams New York from 12 - 22 March as part of the Asia Week events. The exhibition will showcase 22 works by some of the leading Japanese artists of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Dessa Goddard, Vice President and Director of Asian Art at Bonhams, said: 'This was a time when traditional skills were repurposed for the global marketplace, resulting in some of the finest metalwork and cloisonné enamel the world has ever seen. This special exhibition includes pieces that have been carefully selected from a very distinguished private collection.'

Highlights of the show include:

· A pair of iron vases by Kajima Ikkoku (1846–1925), decorated in gold, silver, and copper alloys, with dancers in butterfly costumes, a musician, and a giant drum. Like many artists of the time Kajima regularly showed his work at international exhibitions in Europe and the United States.

· Dating from around 1900, a bold incense-burner by Shōami Katsuyoshi (1832–1908) which takes the form of Raijin, the God of Thunder, seated atop a giant drum which rests on a cloud-shaped silver base. When Japan's samurai warriors lost the right to wear two swords, Shōami and his contemporaries put their metalworking skills to new uses, fashioning precious metals and alloys into exquisitely crafted ornamental pieces designed to appeal to wealthy Western globetrotters.

· A magnificent 17-inch silver model of a hawk sitting atop a rock which dates from 1901–1902. An inscription on the storage box relates that the original owner ordered master metalworker Tsukada Shūkyō (1848–1918) to fashion this highly realistic bird from a piece of silver recovered from his house after it had burned to the ground two years earlier.

· A miniature screen by Kanō Natsuo (1828–1989) depicting warblers above a mountain stream. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most poetic metalworkers in the whole of Japanese history, Kanō was one of several featured artists who were appointed to the select group of Teishitsu Gigeiin or Artist-Craftsman to the Imperial Household.

· A pair of large silver vases by Unno Shōmin (1844-1915), another Artist-Craftsman to the Imperial Household, which is decorated in gold, silver and shibuichi alloy with butterflies, dragonflies, wheat and rice. The government frequently commissioned artists to create works such as these to be used as official gifts.

· Eight works of cloisonné enamel which demonstrate the extraordinary progress Japan made in this art form during the Meiji era. A pair of vases by Namikawa Sōsuke (1847–1910) of Tokyo are outstanding examples of his mastery of the musen ("wireless") method, in which the wires separating the enamels were either removed or concealed - a break from centuries of tradition. Thanks to this development, Namikawa was able to create naturalistic designs which resemble painting in ink and colours on silk.

· A water jar and an unusually large, flawlessly enamelled incense burner by Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845–1927) of Kyoto which depicts Japanese cranes by a stream. Namikawa Yasuyuki enjoyed a global reputation during his own lifetime, and in 1905 or 1906 this masterpiece, created at the peak of his career, was purchased directly from his showrooms by the German traveller and photographer Waldemar Abegg.

· Two enamels which closely connected to the imperial family: a vase by Kawade Shibatarō (1856–1921), decorated with a cherry tree and warbler in high relief, which was a gift for the wedding of Prince Yasuhiko and Princess Nobuko in 1910; and a glove-box decorated with crayfish which was commissioned in 1916 to celebrate the enthronement ceremony of the Taisho Emperor.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an introduction by Joe Earle, Senior Consultant for Japanese Art at Bonhams, providing detailed descriptions of each piece. Mr. Earle will also give a talk on the collection. Taking 'Transformation, Summation, and Creation' as his theme, he will show how dramatic changes in the second half of the 19th century provided the opportunity to create new kinds of art which played an important role in communicating Japanese culture to international audiences.

The talk will be held on 12 March at 5 pm at Bonhams New York and will be followed by a reception.