Taniguchi Kōkyō (1864–1915) 
Kikuchi Hōbun (1862–1918) 
Tsuji Kakō (1870–1931) 
Yamamoto Shunkyo (1871–1933) 
Five Painted Lacquer Plates 
Japan, c. 1910 
Lacquer on wood 
Gift of Terry Welch, 2021 (2021-03-011)

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As the curriculum of art schools expanded to include subjects such as ceramics in response to an ever-widening conception of the arts, both professors and students experimented in different media, and collaborated on projects. 
 
The four artists who decorated these lacquer plates were all leading early professors of painting at the Kyoto Prefecture Painting School, and well-established artists with independent careers. Examples of collaboration between the school’s professors, especially in materials other than those for which they were primarily known, are rare and little-studied, but probably were common in the experimental environment of the early 20th century.