A spectacular collapsed pottery jar from the Karatsu tradition with a purpose-warped wooden lid covered in powdered silver enclosed in a top quality ancient red-lacquered kiri-wood box lined with wave-patterned colored-paper. The ancient box has silver lacquer writing on the top reading Kodai Karatsu Tsubo, Kamakura Ki, Mizusashi (Ancient Karatsu Tsubo, Kamakura Period, Mizusashi). The pot is 17 cm (7 inches) diameter, 15 cm (6 inches) tall and in overall excellent condition.
Antique Japanese ikebana basket (for flower arrangement). Light color bamboo with oblong form. A round mouth and sides that flatten slightly as they taper down to the bottom where they are bound together with a strip of wood. The upper portion of the basket has a band of tightly woven split bamboo and the lower portion has a bolder weave. A thin belt of dark bamboo divides the upper and lower patterns. Attaches to the wall with a thin rope in the back of the basket...
This is a beautiful complex wire and wireless Japanese cloisonne vase. Though it is not signed, it was made by Gonda Hirosuke during the Meiji Era, circa 1910. All pieces like this we ever seen signed have been signed Gonda. Very few of these wireless fish vases were made by Gonda.
The vase is in excellent condition and has silver rims. It was created before Japan began stamping rims with the "jun gin' silver mark in the early 1900's. It stands 7 inches tall and is 7 inches wide.
Tamba-yaki tokkuri (bottle for sake) with hand-drawn letters of the sake maker. Generally in good condition. Early 20th century. H:22cm, Diameter:11cm
Amazing boro made of hand-spun and vegetable indigo dye cotton fragments. It used to be the lining of yogi, which is one kind of futon, in the shape of kimono. It is from the Japan Sea side district in Kansai, such as Fukui or Kyoto. It is partly sewn with hemp yarn. Late 19th to early 20th century. W:95cm, L:165cm
A set of 5 rare Dutch glass cups imported to Japan in the Edo period and formerly owned by the Confucian scholar Nakai Riken (1732-1817). They are enclosed in a custom made double sided wooden box with drop in doors titled on the side Yoi-O-Gozui (Five fortuitous ways to be drunken) with a long verse carved into each door. Of course, the meaning of the title goes much deeper, and the Gozui is also a Confucian concept...
A concave cylinder seal in white-beige stone. The seal is carved with an elaborate pattern of Cruciforms and lines, Mesopotamia 3300-2900 BC.
The Jemdet Nassr Period in seal manifacturing,3300-2900 BC, were spreading from Southern Mesopotamia, where a great number of administrative cuneiform tablets and seals came from. Such seals was used to impress pictures or descriptions into soft, prepared clay...
Chinese Ming dynasty Wanli period guan form jar with wide shoulders tapering to an unglazed foot and glazed, slightly recessed base decorated in underglaze blue with lotus flowers and scrolling foliage on a white ground. Short cylindrical neck and fully glazed interior. Measures 6 7/8” high. 16th century. No chips, cracks, or repairs. Minor scratches to the glaze are visible under magnification...
Pair of Qianlong porcelain plates. Vivid colors.
A little paint loss, otherwise very good condition.
Acquired at Sotheby’s Auction.
A Chinese export porcelain plate, Circa 1750.
Excellent condition except for minor paint loss.
Acquired at Christie’s Auction.
A beautifully crafted and remarkable example of an early Edo period (1603-1868) Raku Chawan. This bowl is strongly reminiscent of the Chōjirō tea bowls, the first head of the Raku family.
This exceptionally well-crafted tea bowl has a very meditative presence and reveals its highlights of a typically Momoyama Period classic black glaze. It comes with an old Japanese wooden box...
Chinese Han Dynasty Pottery Amphora
A superbly conceived design; jars of this general type have been found in excavations dating as far back as the Spring and Autumn Period (770-475 BC)...
Large porcelain bowl, decoration painted in red iron oxide on cracked glaze, gold details. On the outside, Buddhist lions (Shishi) are represented moving among peonies. Inside are finely drawn landscapes in reserves and elegant cranes in flight. Each landscape is annotated with Chinese characters which probably indicate what place it is. Under the Kutani kilns mark. Very nice example of this production and beautiful size...
Asa (hemp) furoshiki with four owner's names, hand-written with sumi(ink). Both warps and wefts are hand-plied. It has some holes and stains, however it is washed. Probably from Nagano prefecture or Tohoku district. The second half of the 19th century. W:126cm, L:132cm
Rare Chinese Han Dynasty Pottery Dish with Painted Fish Pattern
This rare pottery dish, or shallow bowl, was made during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). Most known Han Dynasty pottery objects tend to be jars or figures with dishes and bowls being quite rare. This is quite a large dish with a diameter of 25 cm. It is made from a dark grey pottery that is relatively highly-fired...
Large Chinese Song / Yuan Dynasty Glazed Buddhist Jar with Sanskrit Inscription
This large and impressive pottery jar was made around the 13th / 14th century, during the Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279) or the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1279 - 1368). Until recent years, this type of jar was almost unknown in the west with some people initially attributing them to the Liao Dynasty (same general period but in the north of China)...
LARGE Chinese Warring States Impressed Pottery Jar with Oxford TL Test (475 - 221 BC)
This large and impressive pottery jar was made during the Warring States period (475 - 221 BC). It is made from a fine-grained grey pottery and has a smooth surface with bands of lightly incised/burnished lines surrounding the shoulder and the upper body. Around its middle are two bands of impressed decoration...
An antique Bayon bronze style meditation Buddha from the 13th cent., seated on a three-tired throne, with the flaring head of a giant Naga, the serpent King Muchalinda, rising behind protectively behind...