"How did Japonisme come to evolve so rapidly, last so long, and inspire so many to active participation as collectors?  ...  The prevalent type among them possessed four characteristics to a marked degree: entrepreneurial spirit, a developed artistic sensibility, a nose for coming trends, and an appreciation of decorative ensemble.  ...  For these Parisians were as firmly grounded in the world of craftsmanship as in that of art; perhaps without realizing it, they were looking for a bridge to link the two.  They admired Japanese ceramics, precious lacquer, exquisite metalwork from sword-hilts to jewellery; and all these were represented in their collections alongside prints.  They chose their objects for quality, rarity, luxury."  (Berger, 1992, p. 177) 

The word 'crafts' (similar to shugei 手芸), simply does not do justice to the type of Japanese artisanal works mentioned above, and the Japanese word for such arts, 'kogei' (工芸), will be used instead, which carries no implications of being inferior to 'fine art', as crafts are in the West.  The debt 20th century modern painting owes to Japanese ceramics has been discussed elsewhere on this website in regards to Mark Tobey and mid-century abstract painting, but precedents can be found from at least a half century earlier in the Jugendstil / Vienna Secession artists as Klimt, and in Symbolist / Expressionist painting, as exemplified in the work of Odilon Redon.   

Redon's japonisme has been well-researched and discussed primarily in the context of ukiyo-e prints, which will be touched upon at the end of this article.  Hardly recognized is the equally important, if not more important, influence of Japanese kogei on Redon's imagery and chromatic qualities, such as pottery (especially cloisonne), as well as decorated and illustrated and books or scrolls 'makimono' (巻物) especially decorated sutras (装飾経) or poetry collections (歌仙集) in chigiri-e (ちぎり絵, 'torn' and pasted, decorated washi paper) form, and probably yamato-e byobu screens and maki-e lacquerware as well---the type of items that were avidly collected in Paris by the great collectors referred to above, accessible to those in artistic circles, and if not seen firsthand, illustrations of which were abundantly produced in the artistic publications of the late 19th century, and onward, as in the Louis Gonse organized 1883 Exposition rétrospective de l'art japonais of some 3,333 Japanese art objects from 26 collections, highlighting ceramic works, marks the heightening interest in Japanese ceramics and other art forms besides ukiyo-e, with a growing appreciation for "exquisite workmanship and subtlety of form" (Berger, 1992, p. 185).

Both in terms of specific imagery and chromatic qualities (such as color tones, color combinations and techniques of color distribution), Redon's paintings, especially from the early years of the 20th century onward, clearly reflect aspects of export oriented Japanese porcelains, especially cloisonne porcelains, as well as other Japanese kogei decorative techniques such as maki-e and chinkin (沈金) used in lacquerware, as well as related techniques of illustrating scrolls using gold and silver powder or leaf  (金銀粉/金箔), of which the Heike Lotus Sutra is perhaps the most famous, inspiring many other similar works and copies over the years up to the early 20th century.    

Redon's frequent depictions of flowers and butterflies share much in common with Japanese porcelain compositions of such motifs. A few works by Taizan Yohei, one of the famous Meiji period (1868-1912)  ceramicists,  are offered for comparison with Redon.  That is to say there is another type of ‘Cloisonnisme’ to that of Gauguin (that can be seen in his works too), a Cloisonnisme in a more literal sense than has been usually understood, closely related to the imagery and colors of specifically Japanese export porcelains, a connection that needs to be better addressed.