Catalog: Antiques: Regional Art: Asian: Japanese (100)

A Japanese gold lacquer kagamibako, a box for a small circular mirror. This example is from the 18th century or perhaps earlier. The top features a landscape which is continued in places down the side, the inside and base lacquered with nashiji powdered gold. Inside the lid is a fabulous landscape with a flowing river and flowering trees and a stunted pine near the bottom of the scene.

Approximately 10.7 cm diameter...

A fine old ceremonial sake pourer, hisage, hand made from copper and decorated with shochikubai (pine, plum and bamboo), minogame and cranes. Also present are two prominent Tokugawa family crests and on the handle three 16 petalled chrysanthemum crests and another on the rear handle mount. 19th century or earlier. Fine work.

The body of the pourer has probably been raised from one sheet of copper...

A Japanese wood carving of a seated figure, probably the poet Matsuo Basho (1644~1694), the most famous poet of the Edo period. 19th century or earlier. Fine old patina.

Approximately 14.5 cm high...

A Japanese porcelain dish with a barbed edge and cavetto moulded with Buddhist symbols. The centre painted with underglaze blue depicting two scholars playing chess in an idyllic setting, a waterfall behind them and a stanza of Chinese poetry above them.

Arita, circa 1780 ~ 1800.

Approximately 21cm diameter...

A Japanese porcelain deep charger, decorated with a flowering branch issuing from an eccentric rock behind garden fence. The border has a very complicated design that seems to be based on flowering peonies. A very striking design.

Arita, circa 1670~1690.

Approximately 28 cm diameter. The dish is in fine condition except for a restored shallow flake on the edge. This is tiny and is invisible to the eye. I only spotted it when I used an ultra-violet torch...

An unusual shallow Japanese porcelain plate (#2) decorated with confronting dragons, one in blue and gold, the other gold and red. The plain back with 5 neat spur marks.

Arita porcelain, circa 1750 ~ 1780.

Approximately 18.7 cm diameter...

An unusual shallow Japanese porcelain plate (#1) decorated with confronting dragons, one in blue and gold, the other gold and red. The plain back with 5 neat spur marks.

Arita porcelain, circa 1750 ~ 1780.

Approximately 18.7 cm diameter...

A heavily potted Arita porcelain dish featuring a rural pavilion beside a waterfall, the moulded cavetto with a celadon glaze. The blue and white landscape with touches of iron-red and gold enamel.

Arita, circa 1750 ~ 1780.

Approximately 22.5cm diameter...

An attractive Japanese porcelain dish, the blue & white decoration depicting the King of Beasts and the Queen of Flowers. The Lion-Dog and the Peony, shi-shi and botan in Japan, represent bravery and elegance . A popular motif.

Arita, circa 1790.

Approximately 29 cm diameter. Perfect condition...

A diminutive Arita porcelain oil bottle, the greyish body decorated with a spray of prunus. By repute used for a tonsorial dressing.

Late 17th ~ early 18th century.

Similar bottles are shown in ‘Old Imari Blue & White Porcelain’. Heiando, Kyoto, 1959. Yosuke Sera, editor.

Approximately 7.5cm high...

A small dish with an unusual barbed edge and diaper border. The back with a not often found six- character Qianlong mark in the form of a seal. Arita 1780.

Reference ‘The Complete Catalogue of the Shibata Collection, Kyushu Ceramic Museum. 2002.’ for a broadly similar dish, item 3628.

Approximately 15.1cm diameter.

Please study the photographs.

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An Arita porcelain plate (#2) decorated with a leaping carp within a moulded border based upon Chinese Ming export porcelain, ‘Kraak’ style. The dishes have faux chattering in imitation of Wanli Kraak dishes.

Arita, 1750 - 1780.

Approximately 21.5cm diameter. Perfect condition.

Please study the photographs.

Within the UK payment by bank transfer is preferred.

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An Arita porcelain plate (#1) decorated with a leaping carp within a moulded border based upon Chinese Ming export porcelain, ‘Kraak’ style. The dishes have faux chattering in imitation of Wanli Kraak dishes.

Arita, 1750 - 1780.

Approximately 21.5cm diameter. Perfect condition.

Please study the photographs.

Within the UK payment by bank transfer is preferred.

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A large Japanese export porcelain charger decorated with a design based upon a Ming Chinese ‘Kraak’ porcelain dish. Arita, 1680.

For a similar but smaller plate see item 12 in the Impey Collection. ‘Ko-Imari Porcelain from the Collection of Oliver Impey’, Barry Davies Oriental Art, 1997.

Approximately 28.2cm diameter. Perfect condition.

Please study the photographs.

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An attractive diminutive Japanese porcelain Kendi decorated with landscapes in underglaze blue.

Arita, 1680 - 1685.

A similar small ewer is included in Sekai Toji Zenshu,Vol 8, [Ceramic Art of the World 8: Edo Period II Imari and Nabeshima Wares] item 147.

Approximately 21.8cm high. Fine condition. There is a partial under the glaze firing fault where the spout is luted to the body.

Please study the photographs.

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A Japanese export porcelain wine ewer. This vessel is of European form with underglaze blue decoration in Chinese late Ming style, probably copied, second-hand as it were, from a Dutch Delft wine ewer.

Arita, 1680 - 1700.

A jug of a very similar design is illustrated by Oliver Impey in [ Japanese Export Porcelain, Catalogue of the collection of the Ashmolean Mu- seum, Oxford. Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2002 ], item 32.

Approximately 20.8 cm high. Perfect c...

A small porcelain dish depicting eccentric stones beyond a terrace in a garden setting. At first this seems to be a very eccentric modern-looking composition but this dish was to be finished with enamel decoration but for an unknown reason it was never completed thus leaving an interesting artifact. The base with an apocryphal four-character Ming reign mark for Jiajing.

Arita, 1690 - 1700.

Shibata [The Complete Catalogue of the Shibata Collection, Kyushu Ceramic Museum. 2002] illust...

A Japanese export porcelain bottle used for soy sauce in Holland. Marked ‘JAPANSCHZOYA’ in underglaze blue. Believed to be from the Hasami kiln, Nagasaki prefecture towards the end on the 19th century.

Approximately 18.8cm high. Perfect condition.

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A Japanese export porcelain teapot, 1690 ~ 1720. The moulded body with raised chrysanthemum heads over a brocaded lappet border. A bale handle of bamboo form decorated with maple leaves and further chrysanths. Arita porcelain, 1690 ~ 1720.

A teapot of very similar form and decoration is in the collection of the Fries Museum in the Netherlands.

Approximately 16cm high. The tip of the spout has a minuscule shallow flake, otherwise perfect condition.

Please st...

A Japanese export porcelain Kendi, late 17th century.

Professor Jorg devotes a chapter to the kendi in his “Fine & Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections” Hotei Publishing, 2003. The shape is based on the Indian kundika, a vessel used in ritual. Most Japanese kendi were exported to S.E. Asia, those sent to Holland appear to be used decoratively.

This ribbed form of the kendi is possibly based on a Chinese Swatow example. It is decorated with a garden scen...

A Japanese export porcelain Apothecary bottle, 17th century.

The shape is derived from European glassware used in the apothecary trade in the late 17th century. The bulbous body decorated with bursting pomegranates and flowering peony. Arita, circa 1670 ~ 1700.

Approximately 21.3cm high. The the mouth-rim has been chipped, otherwise the bottle is in fine condition. The lower part of the bottle , below the waist, and within the foot-rim exhibit the light crazing often found on ...

A Japanese bronze vase decorated with dragons and clouds. Meiji period, mid to late nineteenth century. Unsigned. The work is reminiscent of Murata Seimin.

Approximately 21 cm high. The weight is just over 1.9 kg.

Please study the photographs.

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It was not uncommon for blue & white porcelains arriving from the Far East to be applied with enamels to suit the new fashion for coloured wares. The entailed the vessels being fired again but at a much lower temperature. This Dutch production was colloquially known as “Amsterdams Bont”.

The blue & white design on the Arita jar is in Chinese Transitional style.

Approximately 25.3 cm high. As often with these wares there is some crazing to the glaze towards the bottom....

A Japanese porcelain underglaze blue & white wine vessel (kendi). Arita, circa 1680. A very similar ewer was included in ‘Ko-Imari Porcelain from the Collection of Oliver Impey’, Barry Davies Oriental Art, 1997. Item 7.

Approximately 21.8 cm tall. The bulbous spout has damage at the tip, otherwise fine condition.

Please study the photographs.

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A Japanese porcelain steep-sided dish depicting a traditional zashiki room or perhaps a temple interior. The plants seen through the windows are banana and cycad, both common in warmer climates as experienced in Kyushu or Okinawa. Arita 1730 - 1750. Two plates with similar central designs are found in ‘The Story of Imari’, Goro Shimura. ‘The Story of Imari, The Symbols and Mysteries of Antique Japanese Porcelain’, Ten Speed Press, Toronto. 2008. Items 61, 62.

Approximately 19.8 cm...

A large Japanese Arita porcelain dish decorated with bursting pomegranates and ‘Buddha’s hand’, finger citrons, all within a Chinese Wanli Kraak style border. A similar large dish is illustrated in ‘Japanese Porcelain’ by Soame Jenyns. Faber & Faber, London. 1965, where it is identified as a product of the Sarugawa Kiln. Manji/Tenwa period (1658~1683).

Approximately 34.4 cm diameter. Fine condition. Light surface wear from normal use.

Stand not included. ...

A very large plate decorated with a kylin surrounded by panels of cranes among pine and prunus trees, separated by formal lotus flowers.

Just a tad under 41 cm diameter. No cracks, chips or restoration. Some light wear from use.

Stand not included.

Please study the photographs.

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A Japanese Arita deep dish, early 19th century. The dish is decorated with Ho-o birds and branches of flowering paulownia. The back with clouds and bats and a single spur mark. The Dutch refer to this palette of red and gold on white porcelain as ‘Milk & Blood’.

There is the remains of a collectors mark on the back

Approximately 20 cm diameter. Perfect condition.

Please study the photographs.

For new customers resident in China sadly I have to state that...

A Japanese Arita deep dish, early 19th century. The dish is decorated with Ho-o birds and branches of flowering paulownia. The back with clouds and bats and a single spur mark. The Dutch refer to this palette of red and gold on white porcelain as ‘Milk & Blood’.

There is the remains of a collectors mark on the back

Approximately 20 cm diameter. Perfect condition.

Please study the photographs.

For new customers resident in China sadly I have to state that...

A Japanese Export cup & saucer for the European market. Decorated with peony and fence.

Arita, circa 1700. Blue & white tea bowls appear to be scarcer than their coloured brethren.

Saucer is 9.7cm diameter, cup is 3.5cm tall. In perfect condition.

Please study the photographs.

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A tall blue & white porcelain wall vase of octagonal section wonderfully decorated with, perhaps, a traveling monk accompanied by a celestial deer. He carries a basket upon his back which is extended upwards to make a rustic parasol. The painting is very dynamic and expressive. The vase is signed Kachutei Dohachi sei. This is the signature for Takahashi Dohachi Ⅲ (1811-1879) the third generation from this important family of potters in Kyoto.

Approximately 22 cm tall. In perfect...

A fine Arita blue & white porcelain flower vase to be mounted on a wall, kakehana. 18th century.

The flower vase is heavily moulded with a leaping Chinese Lion or karashishi in a landscape of rocks and Tree Peonies, a classic subject in Japanese art known as “Botan-ni-Shishi”, an auspicious subject.

This old kakehana was manufactured in Arita in the mid Edo period, probably for the home market.

Approximately 16.7 cm high. A tiny glaze chip on the mouth-rim,...

An unusual Arita enamelled wall-vase, kakehana, circa 1750. The seed-shaped hollow body is moulded with trailing vines supporting a dragonfly. The painter has used two different greens, aubergine, yellow and black. The unglazed back is pierced for suspension. It is probable that this kakehana was made for the home market.

Approximately 16.7cm long. Perfect condition with only a little wear to the enamels from use.

Please study the photographs.

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A Japanese blue & white porcelain jar, Arita, 1660~1680. The shape of this globular jar is taken from Dutch Delft pottery and the landscape decoration from Chinese Transitional porcelain. It is probable however that the designs for this group of export wares were taken from Dutch versions of the Chinese originals.

A jar of similar design is included in “Porcelain for Palaces, The Fashion for Japan in Europe, 1650~1750.” A group of jars from this ‘Transitional’ group is illustrate...

An Arita cup possibly for noodles, Soba Choko, from the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th. Shibata illustrates this mark as 1790~1810.

Approximately 7.2 cm high. Flea bite to one point, otherwise perfect.

Please study the photographs.

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Fine Japanese Arita Imari Wucai Dish c.1700. # 2 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...