Meiji Satsuma Earthenware Urn or Vase with Foo Dog Sculpture, circa 1880

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A Satsuma Earthenware Vase, by Kinkozan, Japanese, Meiji period (1868-1912) decorated in polychrome enamels and gilt over a clear, crackled glaze, delicately painted with ladies and men, the reverse with a flowering garden with sprays of flowers, the neck with geometric and floral designs, a band of kifu heads in silver and gilt above the foot, on a midnight-blue ground, signed Kinkozan zo...

the body of this small marvelous vase is painted with a scene of a puppet show vendor with his wood backpack, on top of the backpack there are toys and dolls, he is surrounded with a group of 6 children, and on the background you can see a village. on the other side of the vase there is an amazing painting of flowers and on the sides there are two amazing strong pine trees, the amorphous background is decorated in a "Tortoiseshell" color and design that gives it a real character and which is quite rare to see on satsuma pottery. all the vase is over richly overpainted over the glaze with gold, which gives it its depth and realism. signed Kyoto Kinkozan zo, and sealed Kinkozan zo Kyoto’s Satsuma: The painting technique used in Kyoto’s Satsuma-style ware is said to be the invention of the sixth generation Kinkōzan Sōbei (1824–1884). The Kinkōzan were a famous family of Kyoto Awataguchi potters who made ceramics that were used at Shōren'in, a temple closely tied to the imperial family, and by the shoguns of the Edo government. In fact the shogun is said to have granted them the name Kinkōzan. With the upheavals at the end of the Edo period, however, and the reforms of the subsequent Meiji government, the potters lost their traditional patrons and had to develop new markets. Just at that time, the visit of a certain Westerner is said to have decided them to embark on overseas trade. By 1870, they had perfected Kyō Satsuma...