Antique Japanese Satsuma Pottery Bud Vase

A fine diminutive, antique Japanese Satsuma pottery cabinet vase. Decorated throughout with gilding and raised enamel. There are...

A fine antique Japanese Meiji period Kutani porcelain vase. By Matsumoto Sahei/Shoundo. In an aka-e style decorated throughout in iron red with extensive gilt accents. There are cartouches to either side both with branches of red flower with a backdrop of clouds on a white ground. With 2 figural dragon finial handles. Marked to the base with '九谷松雲堂製' which translates as 'Made by Shoundo of Kutani' Matsumoto Sahei (1851-1918) was a master potter who enjoyed success & recognition during his era. In 1876, Sahei received the artist name Shoundo from the nanga painter Tokuda Kansho - he would use that title for nearly 20 years until passing it onto his son as his successor in 1893. Sahei also has the distinction of taking Tokuda Yasokichi I as an apprentice when the latter was 17-years-old. The Tokuda family is perhaps one of the most famous families of Japanese ceramics: Yasokichi I is credited with revitalizing the lost art of ko-Kutani and Yasokichi I, II, & III were all recognized as "Living National Treasures" during their lifetimes. Shoundo exhibited internationally numerous times at the tail end of the 19th Century. The Keisei Isogaya Museum of Art (which specializes in Meiji Kutani) has a vase of Sahei's that was exhibited in the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876. He is listed as exhibiting a wide variety of porcelain goods at the 1878, 1889, and 1900 Paris World Exhibitions. He is also listed as exhibiting 'incense burners & porcelain' at the World's Columbian Exhibition held in 1893 in Chicago. The pair of vases that Sahei exhibited in Paris in 1900 bear a strong resemblance to this pair. Simply a wonderfully rare Japanese porcelain...

A good and unusual pair antique Japanese Satsuma Meiji diamond shaped pottery vases decorated with monk figures with a scrolling dragon dating from the 1...

An Satsuma ceramic stone ware vase, circa 19th century, around the end of the Edo and the beginning of Meiji period. In the form of a Classic garlic bottle whose prototype was from China, the white bodied piece is decorated with an early form of kin nishikide, the so called golden brocade, a palette of iron-red, blue, green, yellow, purple and black with golden highlight. The over glazed enamel paint shows a group of robed figures in a garden setting with a lion and three tigers. A transparent overall glaze shows very fine crackles. The design is relatively sparse with plenty of negative space in contrast to the Satsuma production from the late 19th century, when the trend became fussy and overly glitz, due to the influence by the perceived western taste for the export market. This piece may still be made for export but its pattern was more influenced by both Kyoto Pottery and the Kano school of painting compared to the export ware by the end of the 19th century onward to the early 20th century. It was believed by many that this was a result of Satsuma potters visiting Kyoto in the late seventeenth century to learn over glaze painting techniques. There are some age glaze crackles especially around the foot. The piece is not signed in keeping with the earlier production before Satsuma ceramics...