Namikawa Sōsuke

Namikawa Sōsuke (1847–1910) was a Japanese cloisonné artist, known for innovations that developed cloisonné enamel into an artistic medium sharing many features with paintings. He and Namikawa Yasuyuki (no relation) were the most famous cloisonné artists of the 1890 to 1910 period, known as the "golden age" of Japanese enamels. Namikawa's workshop is regarded as the foremost developer of these techniques. His work was also included in the Japan-British Exhibition held in London in 1910.

An article on Japanese enamels in The Decorator and Furnisher of February 1893 commented: Among Japanese enamellers Namikawa, of Tokyo, is pre-eminent. Indeed, in his own field, he has no world left to conquer. [...] e has done all the enamelling throughout the royal palaces and wins always the highest art prizes at the fine arts exhibitions around the world. In 1896 he was appointed an Imperial Household Artist, one of only two cloisonné artists ever to receive this award, along with Namikawa Yasuyuki. These artists were given a yearly stipend and were commissioned by the Imperial family to make presentation wares as gifts for foreign dignitaries. These would often bear the Imperial family crest, a sixteen-petaled chrysanthemum. He seems to have been especially popular with the Imperial family, receiving many commissions. In 1906–07 he made a series of thirty enamel plaques for the Akasaka Palace. These oval medallions bear designs by Watanabe Seitei depicting flowers and birds of the four seasons. His Imperial commissions also included a pair of vases that were presented to the British admiral Sir Nowell Salmon.

Outside of Japan his works are in collections such as the Walters Art Museum and the Khalili Collection of Japanese Art of the Meiji Era.