Catalog: Antiques: Regional Art: Asian (174)

A Pair of Chinese Export Plates, Kangxi, circa 1700.

A pair of porcelain plates made for export to Europe at the end of the 17th century. The dishes with shallow foliate edges, the cavetto decorated with flower stems in the manner of Astor pattern porcelains. The centre of the plates feature a fine decorative flower basket. The back of each plate has a typical Kangxi lozenge mark.

Just under 22 cm and 21.5 cm diameter...

A Rare Chinese ‘SHEN DE TANG BO GU ZHI’ Bowl, 16th ~ 17th Century

A fine and large porcelain bowl with a brown glaze draining from the mouth and leaving the rim with an attractive white line showing off the foliate edge. Within the foot-rim can be found the six-character mark shen de tang bo gu zhi, which may be translated, 'Antique made for the Hall for the Cultivation of Virtue'. The clear glaze has a distinct pale blue-green tinge...

Oliver Impey illustrates a coffee pot of the same form and design in ‘Japanese Export Porcelain, the catalogue of the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.’

Made for the European market during the last quarter of the 17th century and probably copied from a Dutch metal version. These coffee pots have a purpose-made opening in the lower body but taps seem to have been fitted upon arrival in Europe...

A fine Japanese porcelain plate, the centre painted with a pair of Ho-o birds perched on rocks amongst flowers. There are several versions of this design featuring different borders. This border is unusual, it features three Ming-style elephant headed dragons and a profusion of blooms. The back has a particularly delicate depiction of trailing blooms and an inner border of clouds. The mark is associated with the Old Kakiemon kiln, 1680’s.

Approximately 20.7cm diameter...

An Arita porcelain whistle in the form of a reclining Chinese boy. Decorated in Kakiemon-type underglaze blue, green and iron-red enamels. Circa 1680 ~ 1700.

A similar whistle is illustrated in Christiaan J. A. Jorg’s ‘Fine & Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections.’

Approximately 7.4 cm long...

The Chinese porcelain dish has a border of two repeating elements, a garlanded ruyi and three interlinked rings. The centre of the dish depicts a Chinese landscape with two scholars approaching a solitary angler. The dish was made for the Japanese where such pieces were used and much appreciated in the tea ceremony, at a time when the Japanese porcelain industry was in its infancy.

Approximately 15.5 cm diameter...

An Arita Export porcelain plate in Dutch ‘Kraak’ style. A plate with the same border is illustrated in the Impey Collection “Japanese Export Porcelain, Catalogue of the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2002”, item 12. The border pattern shows a striking similarity to that used for V.O.C. orders produced at the Hikeoba and Sarugawa kilns. Circa 1680.

Approximately 21.7 cm diameter...

The decoration of flowers on this khendi has been reduced to the absolute minimum possibly denoting its destination as South East Asia where early exports from Arita were made.

Approximately 20cm high. Weight: 1.30 kg...

Fine Japanese Arita Imari Wucai Dish c.1700. # 1 An attractively decorated dish styled after late Ming wucai enamelled wares, noted for their bold and vivid colouring. A meandering vine with various flowers surround a central kotobuki or good luck character...

A fine Arita Export gourd-shaped bottle decorated in Chinese Transitional taste. Arita 1660 – 1680.

The enjoyment of nature...

A Japanese porcelain plate decorated with a dignitary beneath a parasol, attended by his servant, in a garden. The cavetto is unusually decorated with a continuous landscape, a device not often encountered on Arita porcelain. The use of linear shading is reminiscent of Chinese “Master of the Rocks” style. Arita, circa 1680~1700.

The back is entirely plain with four spur marks within the foot-rim.

This is the remaining plate from a set of three.

Approximately 21...

A Japanese Arita Export porcelain spoon tray after a design by Frederik Van Frytom. Within the foot-rim is found an eccentrically written apocryphal Chinese reign mark, a feature seemingly of most wares the with Van Frytom designs. The shape is taken from an European silver dish and the porcelain clearly intended to be exported to the West.

A spoon tray of this design was included in a Christie’s auction in 2009.

Approximately 13.2 cm long.

Please study th...

A Chinese Shiwan stoneware fanghu vase with a jun glaze, late Ming/early Qing dynasty. The hollow tube handles associate this type of vase with the arrow game pastime but this example, given the small diameters involved would be unsuitable. The glaze is a transmutation glaze and its colour is decided by the kiln conditions at the peak temperature.

Shiwan (Shekwan) ceramics are from southern China, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

Approximately 21.7cm high. Weight is 935 gm. Ro...

A Ming Blue and White porcelain Kaiseki dish made for the Japanese Market, Late Ming, Transitional Period, Chongzhen 1628-1644. Decorated with the Three Friends of Winter, Pine, Bamboo and Prunus. The gnarled pine tree in the center is twisted to form a Chinese `Shou` character meaning Luck and Blessings. The border is of informal scrolling plants including Lingzhi fungus.

Approximately 21.6 cm diameter. The dish has warped during the firing, this unintentional effect much apprecia...

A fine gourd-shaped bottle decorated in Chinese Transitional style. Arita 1660 – 1680.

The bottle is decorated in late Ming style with the enjoyment of nature. These bottles are not uncommon but are seldom encountered with such fine painting.

The Catalogue of the Shibata Collection exhibits two similar bottles.

Approximately 20.4 cm high. The bottle is in perfect condition with only a couple of small areas of glaze evacuation on the neck, noted in the photographs. ...

A JAPANESE EXPORT DISH, LATE 17TH CENTURY.

This fine dish is decorated with designs taken from Ming Chinese Wanli 'Kraak' wares and came about as a result of a disruption of Chinese production during a period of unrest. Dutch traders who found their Chinese trade stopped resorted to ordering from Japanese makers. The Japanese versions of these Kraak style pieces are usually thicker than the very thin Chinese Kraak wares and this has ensured their survival in often pristine condition. Thi...

An early Arita porcelain bowl made for export to the Far East. The decoration is based on a Ming Chinese dragon & phoenix bowl, the interior with a fish rising from waves. Fuyoyama or Tengudani kilns. See Impey, ‘The Early Porcelain Kilns of Japan, Arita in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century. Clarendon Press, Oxford.1996’ where several sherds are illustrated. Circa 1650 - 1680. Found in Cambodia. Must be of the earliest wares specifically made for export.

Approximately ...

A Chinese “Master of the Rocks” Saucer Dish, Kangxi, late 17th century. Typically, the decoration relies heavily on the techniques of contemporary ink painters with attention to naturalistic detail and various wet brush effects. The border of waterweed-like fronds appears on many such Master of the Rocks ceramics. The back is entirely plain.

Approximately 13.8cm diameter. There is one very shallow chip on the rim, noted in the photographs, otherwise perfect.

Please ...