Malcolm Fairley, Oliver Impey, Victor Harris - The Nasser D.Khalili Collection of Japanese Art, Meiji No Takara, Treasures of Imperial Japan - 1995

The Nasser D.Khalili Collection of Japanese Art, Meiji No Takara, Treasures of Imperial Japan, Metalwork Part I,275 pages and Metalwork Part II,227pages, Volume II, by Malcolm Fairley (Author), Oliver Impey (Author), Victor Harris (Author),The Kibo Foundation,1995

The Khalili Collection of Japanese Art is a private collection of decorative art from Meiji-era (1868–1912) Japan, assembled by the British-Iranian scholar, collector and philanthropist Nasser D. Khalili. Its 1,400 art works include metalwork, enamels, ceramics, lacquered objects, and textile art, making it comparable only to the collection of the Japanese imperial family in terms of size and quality. The Meiji era was a time when Japan absorbed some Western cultural influences and used international events to promote its art, which became very influential in Europe. Rather than covering the whole range of Meiji-era decorative art, Khalili has focused on objects of the highest technical and artistic quality. Some of the works were made by artists of the imperial court for the Great Exhibitions of the late 19th century. The collection is one of eight assembled, published, and exhibited by Khalili.
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.

The collection is one of eight assembled by Nasser D. Khalili, each of which is considered among the most important in its field. Three of them include works from Japan: the collection of Japanese art, the Khalili Collection of Kimono, and the Khalili Collection of Enamels of the World. Khalili 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." As well as assembling these collections, Khalili founded the Kibo Foundation (from the Japanese word for "hope") to promote the study of art and design of the Meiji era, publishing scholarship about the collection and its historical context.

Metalwork Parts I and II
Set of two parts; 500 pages; fully illustrated in colour; 40 x 30 cm; hardback with slipcase; 1995; ISBN: 978-1-874780-02-1

This volume introduces 161 examples from the greatest group of Meiji-period masterpieces in metal ever assembled, decorated in an astonishing variety of virtuoso techniques and drawing on a vast store of subject matter derived from Chinese and Japanese history, legend, and religion.
It includes a vast and hitherto unknown bronze incense-burner by Suzuki Chokichi (1848–1919), an exquisitely decorated elephant incense-burner by Shoami Katsuyoshi (1832–1908), a large group of iron pieces decorated in gold by the Komai family of Kyoto, and ornaments commissioned from leading artists by the Ozeki company.
Kano Natsuo (1828–98), the outstanding decorative metalworker of 19th-century Japan, is represented by a table-screen in shibuichi, and there is another screen of Shoki the demonqueller, by his great contemporary Unno Shomin (1844–1915).

The sculptural highlight of the entire Collection is a group by Otake Norikuni (b. 1852) representing the deity Susanoo no Mikoto receiving the sacred jewel.