Japanese Porcelain Cut-Out Saucer, Imari

This porcelain plate displays a refined and elaborate design, characteristic of the Imari style, a type of Japanese ceramics that became very popular in Europe from the 17th century ...

This pair of porcelain serving bowls features an intricate and elegant design characteristic of traditional Chinese blue and white ceramics...

A fine pair of antique Japanese Imari porcelains demitasse coffee or tea cups & saucers. In the 'Black Ship' pattern. Decorated throughout with painted depictions of Western sailors and their ships in reds, blues, and greens with extensive gilt accents throughout. The centers of the cups and saucers each have a stylized gilt kanji for longevity (寿). The bases of both cups & saucers have apocryphal Chinese reign marks for the Ming Dynasty of the Chenghua period (太明成化年製). Black Ships (黒船, kurofune) was a name used for Western sea vessels arriving in Japan from the 16th - 19th Century. The name originated from the very first Portuguese vessels to trade with the Japanese ca. 1543 had hulls painted black. When the expedition of Matthew Commodore Perry in 1853 forcibly ended Japan's self-imposed isolationist sakoku (鎖国, lit. "locked country") period, his steam-powered warships inspired fear in the Japanese populace with their coal fueled black smoke. Subsequently, the Black Ships became symbolic of the end of Japan's isolationist period. Simply a wonderful set of antique Arita...

A Radium Imari saucer by Royal Albert Crown China, circa 1920, England.