Ko-sometsuke porcelain was produced specifically for the Japanese market during the final decades of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). A small Japanese porcelain plate glazed with 3 images of a person on an island, a row boat and mountain.

Dimensions: diameter 6" X 1.5"

Date: 17th C

Large Japanese porcelain dish, Arita kiln, compartmentalized decoration inspired by Chinese models from the end of the Ming dynasty. In the center a flowered basket and on the edge, cartouches containing flowers and emblems are boldly drawn in underglaze cobalt blue. The reverse left without decoration. The firing was perfect, the blue is bright, the glass is uniform. There is a big chip...

A fine and early museum quality complete set of five Ko-Imari, Kakiemon style cups or choko. Blue underglaze and green, red, aubergine, yellow and black overglaze enamel decoration of peonies and prunus blossoms in garden landscape with rockery and fence. Traces of rubbed gilt enameled highlights. The choko form saw many uses such as teabowls (also seen in early European ceramics after Japanese examples of the period), large sake cups, and mukozuke...

A very fine sometsuke dish of scalloped octalobed form painted with a mon form central motif of a symmetrically arranged pair of leaping carp. Framed by a continuous band of botan karakusa, Peonie lotus scroll, within which are reserves containing, dragons, Ryu, in clouds and a gilt rim, kin-beni. The reverse decorated with hagi-karakusa, vine pattern and a six character mark for the Chinese Emperor Jiajing. The quality of the painting is of the highest quality...

A set of two Japanese porcelain cups and saucers with fine decoration in the Imari palette, underglaze blue, iron red and abundantly gold. Cups with a blossom mark. Condition: fine, saucers with kiln grit residue. Dimension: cup: c. 7.1 diameter, 4.6 cm high, saucer: c. 12.2 cm diameter, 2.3 cm high.

This is an exquisite antique Japanese Imari porcelain jar and cover from the late 17th century, precisely from the Edo period, circa 1680-1700 AD. The jar is a testament to the unparalleled craftsmanship of the Japanese artisans of the time. The ovoid body of the jar is expertly decorated underglaze with peonies and chrysanthemums in iron red, cobalt blue, and gilt. The decoration seems to be growing out of rockwork, which adds an extra layer of depth and texture to the piece...

A square shallow bowl in the form of a Japanese rice measure, masu, which was considered to be an auspicious form decorated to the exterior with two Dragons in different stances with two eight character poems with seals. Presumably the shape was intended as a play on the word, namasu, a term used to traditionally describe a serving of pickled vegetables and the related bowl...

Perfume fountain in porcelain Imari kinrandé mounted in gilt bronze from the same set of porcelain. The cup and the bowl form the base, the pot covers the perfume container.
Blue under-cover decoration with gold highlights of interlacing lotus flowers. On each of the ceramic pieces, two four-lobed spaces and sides with floral motifs (pine, yellow and red lycoris, carnation, phlox moss, bamboo) and two foxes. Top of the pot with a chrysanthemum pattern...

Japanese porcelain Arita export ware box with lid decorated with a peony spray in underglaze Blue. The box measures 4 3/4" in diameter x 2 1/2" high. Condition: The box is in excellent condition with one very small chip in the glaze along the edge of the lip, and some evidence of burial. The box is 17th Century. Free shipping within the USA.

Hard porcelain dish decorated in underglaze cobalt blue. The scene represents a pavilion in a garden raised on the edge of a lake, several characters animate it. Probably scholars. The designs are artistically stylized in a very Japanese spirit. In the sky the clouds are drawn in a style typical of this period. The edge is glazed in brown. On the reverse appears the mark "Fuku". The quality is excellent, the blue is bright, the designs precise and the firing perfect...

A fine Japanese blue and white porcelain dish. The foliate rim with chocolate brown glaze, the white porcelain body and glaze, and the fine attention to detail all suggest Kakiemon type. The cavetto with decoration of flowering plants including peonies, prunus and others. The center decorated with a bird (perhaps a flycatcher) in fruited branches, rockery and bamboo leaves below...

Hard porcelain dish from the Arita kilns. Decor painted in cobalt blue underglaze high-fire. A couple of fallow deer are represented in an autumnal landscape. It would seem that the female is reluctant to fall mating because she is lying down while the male at her side rears up desperately to attract attention...

Porcelain ewer from the Kyushu Arita oven second part of the 17th century. We only know a few identical models, one, with its lid, is kept in the British museum, another is housed in Tokyo at the Idemitsu Museum and happens to be one of the major pieces of the collection, finally a last one, damaged and without a lid, was sold by Sothebys London on June 1, 1981. To our knowledge there are no others. Curiously the porcelain of these ewers is atypical and could be confused with soft porcelain but ...

A beautiful old Kyo-ware tea bowl slightly elongated on one end producing an interesting and unique effect. The collector who furnished the box labeled it as being by the legendary potter Ninsei (17th C.). Though the potter’s mark suggests this could be the case, there is no way to confirm for certain other than by its age and undeniably elegant craftsmanship. Believing it to be quite precious, the previous owner bestowed it with the poetic name "Ibitsu" which means "warped" or "cu...

Porcelain plate made in China for the 17th century Japanese market. Blue and white design of 2 boats in a misty bay with land outcroppings and a mountain pavilion. The underside of the plate is decorated with three thin blue rings and two flowers. The edges of the plate and the many small irregularities in the firing are especially prized in this type of ware.

"Ko-sometsuke ('old blue and white') porcelain was produced specifically for the Japanese market during the final decades of th...

Japanese Genroku era Imari bowl with blue underglaze and red and gold overglaze enamel decoration. The octagonal form with alternating panels on both interior and exterior of flowers and of boat in garden landscape. The cavetto with vase and flowers decoration. Flowers and vine decoration around the foot. Flower head decoration in red enamel inside blue ring within ring foot. The white glaze around the buff colored foot rim burned to a thin dark iron colored ring before the unglazed rim. The con...

A fine so-called “Deshima”, or more likely a scene of Scheveningen in the Netherlands or an imaginary composition based upon it, after an unknown original by Frederik van Frytom. The bowl is decorated with four elements of the pattern, two figures in a field, a female figure with cow held upon a leash, a rider in a landscape, and a “light-house”, beacon upon a hill. There is an Arita dish in the Groingen Museum with three of the elements, clearly copying very closely a Delft original of ...

An Ai-Kutani plate, Arita circa 1700. Decorated in underglaze blue with various molluscs amongst seaweed clad rocks. The back is plain with three spur marks within the foot-rim. Overall the glaze has a blue tinge.

Approximately 18.8 cm diameter. Perfect condition.

Please study the photographs.

Within the UK payment by bank transfer is preferred.

Customers resident in China must make arrangements to pay by International Bank Transfer in GBP, fees paid.

P...

A fine so-called “Deshima”, or more likely a scene of Scheveningen in the Netherlands or an imaginary composition based upon it, after an unknown original by Frederik van Frytom. Although this is the most reproduced version in the literature the design is actually a sinofication of the original Dutch landscape. It reproduces the four elements that appear in No 1 and No 2, but the two figures are transposed into a Chinese Scholar and acolyte, probably meant to represent the Chinese poet, Lin ...

Japanese porcelain soup tureen whose shape is inspired by European goldsmith pieces. On the sides two heads of modeled Buddhist lions and on the lid a crown. Simple decor of phoenixes, flowers, plants and waves in the color palette of the Imari style. An old collector's label indicated that this tureen was part of the service of Augustus the Strong. Probably verifiable statement for motivated collectors. From memory, a Japanese porcelain sauce boat whose shape was also inspired by European gold...

The russet iron menpo depicts an older man's face with wrinkles and a long hair mustache (missing). The removable nose plate has small perforated holes for the insertion of horse hair for the mustache. The rivets are rendered in a plum blossom configuration, and the strap posts holder is in the form of petals and stems. The ears are pierced with plum blossoms. The yodare has four plates laced with blue, calico, and pale orange silk cords. The backside is lacquered in red for the face and black f...

Rare porcelain dish decorated in cobalt blue underglaze. In the center the prestigious mark VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) of the Dutch East India Company. The decoration of flowers and birds in cartridges inspired by the Chinese style of the late Ming.This dish was created for a member of the powerful company. Japan Genroku period end of 17th century. Perfect condition. Diameter: 35 and 35,5cm.

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. The back is decorated with various lingzhi motifs and within the foot-rim is a apocryphal Chinese Ming reign mark for Jiajing.

For a similar dish see pp 282-3 No 157 of the complete catalogue of the Kurita Museum where it is des...

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 22 cm diameter. Perfect condition.

Please study the ...

Influenced by the Chinese Transitional porcelain this dish shows in the center a bridge with a farmer and two cows. On the back a single spur mark. Condition: fine, little wear, foot rim with a small loss (production flaw). Dimension: diameter: 21.3 cm, weight: 396 g. Without wooden stand.

A good example of an “Ai Kutani” style dish decorated with a continuous scrolling vine of Peony flowers with Peony leaves and Buds set against a “frog spawn” type ground, which is typical of the period; see Volume II of the Shibata Collection no 347 for an identical border arabesque there dated circa 1670-80. The reverse of the dish is decorated with a gently undulating vine arabesque incorporating auspicious gobenka, flowers with five petals – see no 344 from the same volume for a sim...

A high quality Arita porcelain dish decorated with an auspicious pattern composed of a central motif made up of three shippo or cash symbols bound together by a stylised Peony leaf vine; a variant of the more usual ribbon tied cash see EW3193. The cavetto decorated with a Tako-karakusa ground and the rim with a diaper band. The reverse is meticulously painted with a band of stylised lotus pattern to the base of the footrim. A design typical of higher quality porcelain of kenjo presentati...

An Ai Kakiemon dish decorated with a repeating pattern of Hosoge, flowers of Precious appearance, which in this case would appear to be representations of auspicious Pomegranate fruits constructed from Ruyi, Acanthus style leaves and other disparate elements. The ring of Hosoge pierced by a circlet binding them together with a gobenka motif in the centre. The reverse decorated with a lotus arabesque, karakusa, and a stylised fuku mark within a double square; a mark exclusively used by the Ka...

Seto is a pottery tradition established in the 12th century with the aim of reproducing fine Chinese porcelain and tenmoku-style tea bowls—which were hard to come by in Japan at the time. Later, during the Muromachi period, Seto potters established kilns in Mino thus starting the period known as ko-Seto, or “old Seto.” These pieces were distinctive as they were produced in small batches and with great care. Later in Edo, the large-kiln style of production or “ogama” was introduced ushe...

Porcelain plate made in China for the 17th century Japanese market. Blue and white design of a bird in a pine tree draped in moss. Encircled with a thin ring of blue. The edges of the plate and the many small irregularities in the firing are especially prized in this type of ware. "Ko-sometsuke ('old blue and white') porcelain was produced specifically for the Japanese market during the final decades of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The lack of Chinese imperial patronage during this period...

An Arita Blue and White Dish. Decorated in the centre with a grasshopper on a rock. Japanese L17thC Diameter: 8 3/8" (21.3 cm ). Condition: excellent

A very rare and early imari that more closely resembles the kakiemon palette, but with the heavy use of gold and some under glaze blue, it would fall under the imari family group. This is a very rare dish as it displays the pomegranate fruit in the center well, its seeds being exposed as to suggest the hope of many sons. 5 cranes are symmetrically arranged, 3 on the garden rock, 2 in flight. Condition is excellent, save a very tiny glaze flake to the rim. No other damage, chips, hairlines, or...

A Japanese Arita dish decorated with scrolling flowers, a central roundel of ( possibly ) passion flowers. The base with four spur marks and an apocryphal Chinese Ming Jiajing reign mark.Circa 1700.

Approximately 19.4 cm diameter. Perfect condition.

Please study the photographs.

Within the UK payment by bank transfer is preferred.

Customers resident in China must make arrangements to pay by International Bank Transfer in GBP, fees paid.

Please note tha...

A dish of scalloped rim form of six-sun size decorated with a central motif of a bouquet of Cherry blossom wrapped in the traditional manner for formal presentation with a sheath of washi paper, tsutsumi, shaped into a horn and tied with cord. The rim of the dish decorated with auspicious motifs of gobenka and cho butterflies in the typical Imari three colour palette dating to the Kyoho period circa 1710-40. The reverse decorated with ribbon ties and trailing flowers. The dish is in good cond...

Bowl with overglaze enamel ( polychrome ) decoration . Dehua ware, Fujian.Late Ming period. D : 3,2 inc. Very good condition !

Arita hard porcelain dish. The decoration is painted with stylized flowers in underglaze cobalt blue and enamelled with medallions. The edge is coated with a thick chocolate brown enamel, typical. Japanese work from the end of the 17th century or the beginning of the 18th. It is a rare artistic model. Below a mark drawn in blue and traces of pernettes. Good condition. Some enamel skids. Diameter 195mm.