Emperor

Country: Spain

Manufactory: Lladro

Date of establishment: 2009

Sculptor: Alfredo Llorens

Size (cm): 30*31

Limited Series

Porcelain Story

In recent days, the final preparations for the celebration of the 85th anniversary of Emperor Akihito are in full swing in Japan. In fact, the anniversary itself will be celebrated later. But now, from the TV screens and from the pages of newspapers, such a stream of interesting information about his life is pouring onto the heads of the subjects of the only (!) reigning emperor in the world, that I decided to introduce you to fragments of his exciting biography. The difficulty was only in what composition to present to your attention on this day. Indeed, in our collection of works devoted to the theme of the life of Japanese emperors, there are incredibly many.

These works, as a rule, are not personalized. Yes, there is no need for this. After all, the emperor, dressed in traditional clothes and properly prepared for the performance of his ceremonial functions, is so similar to all his predecessors that it is almost impossible to distinguish one of them from the other. In historical photographs, Emperor Akihito during the inauguration ceremony held on January 7, 1989, looks absolutely identical to the hero of this unique porcelain composition.

Every smallest detail of the solemn decoration or objects surrounding the hero of this work literally corresponds to how it actually happens. Unless the coverlet made of natural Chinese silk, filled with delicate fluff, on which the porcelain emperor sits, is a creative conjecture of the Spanish masters who created this miracle.

I want to note that of the many imperial compositions, I chose this particular one for today's performance not by chance. Emperor Akihito is known to be very fond of Spanish porcelain. One of the most grandiose works created by the Lladro manufactory even stands in the imperial residence, in the dining room. The same work, depicting deer hunting, is also in our collection, and it is easy to find it at the link in the archive of this section. By the way, Emperor Akihito is an unusual person in many ways. He was brought up, along with the Japanese tutor of the imperial family Koizumi, also by the American educator Elizabeth Gray Wining, a well-known author of children's books, who then helped the prince in studying English and Western culture. Having chosen a girl of non-aristocratic origin as his wife, Akihito, becoming emperor, noticeably changed the way of life in the imperial family. For example, he and his wife raised their three children on their own, without giving them to the care of nannies and tutors.

Like his father, Akihito is interested in biology and ichthyology. He even published 25 scientific papers on sea gobies. And after a trip to the United States, the emperor urged the Japanese to breed the famous American bream. And the Japanese were so carried away by this breeding that soon American bream began to displace traditional Japanese fish in the waters of Japan. In this regard, in 2007, Akihito had to publicly apologize to the entire Japanese people.

And in the summer of 2016, information appeared that Akihito had decided to voluntarily abdicate the imperial throne and pass the throne to his son Naruhito. This information was refuted several times by representatives of the imperial court. However, on March 6, 2018, the Japanese government approved a special decree to hold the official abdication ceremony of the emperor on April 30, 2019.