A water bucket shaped earthenware vase finely painted with micro calligraphy in Kanji (Chinese characters), paper slips and chrysanthemum flowers in moriage technique. Base with "Kutani" mark. Dating to Taisho period or later. Condition: minor wear to gilding and colors, interior with few traces of usage. Dimension: c. 22.3 cm high, diameter: 8.2 cm, weight: 500 g.

Chinese Song Dynasty Carved Qingbai / Dehua Porcelain Bowl

This porcelain bowl was made during the Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1279) at one of the Dehua kilns in Fujian province. The underside is decorated with a carved lotus petal design. It is coated in a very pale greenish qingbai glaze apart from the base where the white body is revealed. Although perhaps a little lower fired than some porcelain, the body is translucent...

Rare Finely Detailed Chinese Song Dynasty Incised Celadon Porcelain Bowl

This very attractive porcelain bowl was made during the 12th or 13th century at one of the kilns in Fujian province, where such wares were made for export around south-east Asia; indeed the silky-matt feel and appearance of the glaze suggest this bowl has been recovered from a shipwreck.

The incised pattern is particularly fine and well-executed...

Chinese Kangxi Blue & White Porcelain Box - Eight Treasures

This fine quality blue & white porcelain covered box was made during the Kangxi reign (1662 - 1722) of the Qing Dynasty. Both cover and box are attractively decorated in underglaze blue. The cover pattern features a spray of chrysanthemum, representing friendship and a life of ease, surrounded by "eight treasures", all representing good fortune...

The time of Obon is upon us, the middle of August when the spirits of the dead return to visit their families. A lantern is hung so the wandering souls may find their way. And on the last day of Obon (August 16), in Kyoto, is held perhaps the most famous of all the festivals, commonly referred to as Daimonji-yaki, when 6 massive characters are lit on fire in the mountains surrounding the city to light the way home for the ancestors...

At least two stories are forwarded to describe this ritual phurba -1 they are as protector of crops stored in granaries. 2- they are used during funerals , the bird is supposed to take away the souls of dead people during cremation or other burial ceremonies These type of phurba seems peculiar to Gurung priests or shamans. Important soot patina indicative of an important age , at least early to mid 20th. H 28 cm ,

An ancient pine and youthful bamboo rise in gold against a striking red background on this scroll set by Hirai Chokusui dated Mid-summer of Taisho 2 (1913) an enclosed in the original signed double wood box titled Ro-matsu Fu-chiku (ancient Pine, Wind in the Bamboo) Kindega Kenpon Sofuku (Gold Painted Silk Pair)...

An original Edo period kōsatsu public proclamation dated Tenwa I (1681) detailing the laws against Christianity, rewards for turning in a Christian to the authorities, as well as punishment for the offenders. Of cypress wood with sumi ink, and a hand-forged iron loop for suspension from a post or gate. The signboard has a shallow peaked “roof” to protect the calligraphy from the rain...

Early Edo Myochin Signed Nimai Do with Nanban influence featuring gilded kusazuri and sode laced with blue chord dated Genwa 3 (1620). There are rows of Prominent rivets all about with nobori-kiri crests on the top of the munaita. Comes with an old wrapping cloth dyed with the same crest. The Hon-kozane Kusazuri are removable, attached to two leather belts suspended from iron tongs about the waist. The takahimo shoulder straps are wrapped in leather...

Massive Qing dynasty Chinese polished bronze tripod ding censer with compressed body, two arched loop handles at the rim, and tapered legs fitted on a custom hardwood stand. Cast in a Ming dynasty style and bearing a six-character apocryphal Xuande reign period mark within a rectangle on the base. Believed to date as early as the 18th century. Censers of this size and form were typically used in temples. Censer: 11 1/2" diameter (10 3/4" diameter at the rim) x 8” high (to top of handles)...

This necklace is comprised of 31 stone pre-columbian beads, in varying shapes, sizes and colors. The necklace measures 19 1/2" long. Between 15 and 20 beads have a green color, the others are faded into cream and beige, a few are brown or black. The flat disc shaped black stone in the center measures roughly 26cm across and is backed with a green speckled disc. The large tubular beads measure between 7/8" and 1 1/4" (33cm)...

Extremely rare bronze Lobi 3 legged stool, in antelope form. Measures 10" high, 18" wide and 5 1/2" deep.. Lobi stools are always a lovely form, sometimes with figural designs, and bronze stools are very rare. Such examples were always made for a chief or other high ranking member of the community...

Rare Chinese Warring States / Western Han Glazed Stoneware Jar

This rare and unusual jar dates to the Warring States period (475 - 221 BC) or possibly the early part of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 8). It is made from high-fired grey stoneware of the type sometimes called "proto-porcelain". The glaze, a dark green ash glaze, is quite patchy and its thickness varies. The shoulder and waist are decorated with bands of lightly incised wavy parallel lines...

Rare Chinese Eastern Jin / Southern Dynasties Celadon Glazed Chicken Head Ewer

This stoneware ewer was made during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 317 - 420) or possibly the Southern Dynasties period (AD 420 - 589). Its form, body and glaze characteristics suggest it was made at the workshops in Jiangxi province...

Fine Chinese Ming Dynasty Blue & White Kraak Porcelain Dish - Wanli

This very attractive "Kraak" porcelain dish was made at the Jingdezhen kilns during the Wanli reign (1573 - 1620) of the Ming Dynasty. The pattern, in underglaze blue of good colour, features in its centre a tasselled double-gourd vase and an artemesia leaf (one of the "eight treasures"). Surrounding this are ten roundels containing peaches and flower blossoms. The underside is more simply decorated with basic floral patter...

A rare and stunning set of Kinrande sake cups by the elusive Nakamura Shuto I enclosed in the original compartmentalized signed wooden box dating from the late Meiji to Taisho period. Crisp designs of shishi lions frolicking among peonies in genuine gold are expertly applied to the brilliant red outside, while inside landscapes of plum, pine and bamboo blossom in minute detail in Sometsuke blue on white. The artists seal is deeply impressed inside the foot ring. Each cup is 5.5 cm (2-1/4 inch...

Golden cranes soar among clouds etched into the surface of this solid silver Japanese hanging incense burner (Tsuri Koro) dating from the late 19th to early 20th century. Inside is an ash-cup suspended in a triple-hinged gimble which keeps the ash pot upright no matter the angle of the ball itself. On the side is impressed the official Kokuin which reads Jungin (pure silver). The cranes have a soft golden sheen and are likely gilded or damascened with gold. It hangs from three silk chords ti...

Chinese Qing dynasty blue and white porcelain dish decorated at the center with five immortals and a young boy all surrounded by a band of bats at the rim. 8 5/8” diameter x 1/2" high. 19th century or possibly earlier. Very good overall condition with no chips, cracks, or repairs. There is kiln grit adhering to the center of the base and to the foot rim. From the collection of a former American expatriate to Guangzhou and Beijing from 1983-1987.