17th Century Shoki-Imari Blue and White Arrowhead Dish

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An early Imari dish fired ~1610 to 1630. 

This dish is from the earliest days of Japanese porcelain that was co-produced in the Karatsu ware kilns. It is a work that indicates development: the distorted body, the blurred cobalt underglaze, the green cast to the porcelain . . . all contribute to a watery feeling with an aquatic plant. The arrowhead plant leaf design on the front face is an auspicious symbol in Japan since ancient times and appears in Arita wares across all periods.  

This dish is among the first examples of a cobalt underglaze design framed by two concentric rings that will become a central element of Ai-Kutani designs for the next 100+ years.  A wonderful, fluid aesthetic and a rare find.

Kintsugi repair to a chip on the rim. There is kiln grit on the foot ring as is typical for these early wares. The dish sits unevenly. The surface maintains a good lustre and is generally in good condition.

D: 13.5cm

H:   3.0cm

An early Imari dish fired ~1610 to 1630. 

This heavily potted dish is from the earliest days of Japanese porcelain.    This small dish springs from a small, distorted foot ring up to a heavy and slightly everted rim.  The glaze is worn and has an overall matte feeling, but manages to maintain its  luster in direct light.  Within a central rondel, lightly drawn grasses arch over an uneven and watery ground.  The execution of the painting has the quick, loose, and fluid feel that is a hallmark of these early porcelains.

This dish is among the first examples of a cobalt underglaze design framed within a single cobalt ring that will become a central element of Ai-Kutani designs for the next 100+ years.  A wonderful, fluid aesthetic and a rare find.

The dish is heavily crazed with the long march of history staining the cracks.  There are areas of glaze pooling and missing glaze.  There are pock marks and iron spots and one star-shaped fissure on the front that occurred during firing, the small foot ring is uneven - all expected features of the very earliest Japanese porcelains.

D: 14.3 cm

H:   4.4 cm 

An early Imari dish fired ~1620 to 1640 

A beautiful and bold Shoki-Imari dish from the earliest days of Japanese porcelain.  This heavily potted dish emphasizes its strong geometries with deep cobalt blue washes filling delicately drawn outlines.  About the outer circumference, a single line highlights the faintest idea of an everted rim - the slightest flare to horizontal to stop the fast curve of the cavetto from the small foot.  Covering the lower half of the cavetto are 10 nyoi (wish-granting, ritual scepters) outlined with delicate line-work.  Framing the center of the dish are three concentric rings, two thin and one thick and infilled. At the center, a boldly drawn chrysanthemum radiates its petals outward.  The earliest Shoki-Imari dishes have a loose carefree expression and feel quickly drawn.  This is certainly true of the center flower; the overall design implies a rotational movement with the twisting and repeating nyoi and the concentric pulsating rings about a radial center. 

The reverse features two concentric rings about the rim and three pearls of wisdom, each surrounded by three jewels.

There are two similar dishes in the Shibata Collection | The Kyushu Ceramic Museum: #0025 with similar porcelain body and reverse decoration dated 1620 ~ 1640 and #0087 with very similarly executed nyoi  border dated 1630 ~ 1640.

The dish is in perfect condition with no evidence of damage, cracks, or repairs. The glaze even and lustrous.   There is a slight flaw to a portion of the rim that occurred prior to firing.  There are areas of glaze pooling and missing glaze.  There are pock marks and iron spots and the small foot ring is uneven - all hallmarks and expected features of the very earliest Japanese porcelains.

D: 14.8 cm

H:   4.2 cm

An early Imari  ware plate fired ~1630 to 1640. This fantastic, heavily potted dish with its everted rim and grit-bearing foot ring is typical of the earliest Japanese porcelain.

It is an offset design, left of center on the front face with a quick arabesque design on the rim in underglaze blue with dark cobalt. There is a little house, a destination just beyond an old gnarled tree trunk - giving a feeling of longevity on a journey that is still taking place.  The asymmetrical composition places a negative space at the center of the dish between the root and branch of the misshapen tree - a superb focal point.

The landscape has been painted with a variety of brush-strokes some of which are incredibly fine, and others form strong outlines; fluid strokes of a large brush float over the design and dynamically wash to infill the outlines. The blue varies from a very thin pale washes to deep inky pools.  

Natural kiln alterations such as kiln grits and unglazed spots can be seen. There are no notable defects other than a single hairline extending from the rim.  The dish feels substantial for its size and weighs in at 1lb 3oz (540 g)

D: 21cm

H:  3cm

This impressive 1 shaku, 1 sun* sized charger was fired in 1630-1640.  

This flat dish with narrow everted rim and its thick, rough foot ring is typical of some of the earliest Japanese porcelain ever produced.  This thickly potted Arita dish features a rim with a strong, geometric dentil border inside a pair of delicate blue rings; about the cavetto is a delicate lotus lappet - all framing a Chinese-inspired landscape scene: a ruyi cloud floats above distant boats and a flock of birds; distant mountains beyond a small pagoda under weeping willows; below dynamic mountains with pine trees, two buildings with sloping rooflines under, perhaps, a paulownia tree.  The dish is beautifully painted and perfectly deploys the layering of soft and heavy wash techniques to give depth while stippling and outlining techniques add a sense of detail.  The reverse is not painted.

Shoki-Imari dishes of this size are not often found as they were not mass produced and were much harder to successfully fire without warping or damage.  This dish is in remarkable condition with no damage after almost 400 years.  The only firing flaws are the small split at the edge and a small deformity at the rim.  Ash, grit on the foot, kiln scrapes, pocks and puddled glaze on the reverse are all a testament to the production methods of the period and typical for these early wares.

An identical dish (a bit smaller at 21.4 cm) is in the Shibata Collection | Kyushu Ceramic Museum, catalogue #0037

*  1 sun = 3.03 cm and was an ancient Japanese unit of measure derived from the Chinese chi

*10 sun = 1 Shaku

D:  35 cm

H:  7.8 cm

An early Arita kilns plate fired ~1630 to 1640. This fantastic, heavily potted 8-sided Shoki-Imari dish is typical of some of the earliest Japanese porcelain.

The everted rim is somewhat wide relative to the size of the plate and imparts a crisp flat feel to the octagon.  The design of the plate is one of flowers among scrolling karakusa  (Japanese foliage scroll) with three chrysanthemums at the center and cherry blossom at the center of each octagonal segment.  The karakusa pattern was introduced to Japan from China in the Kofun period (mid-3rd to 7th century).  The strong vitality of vines that trail onto the ground was highly valued, and the pattern eventually came to be designed even alongside plants with no vines such as pines, chrysanthemums and plums, as is the case here.  The line-work is freely drawn and the overall effect of the karakusa feels haphazard and not yet fully worked out.  Soon enough, these vines will be perfectly and uniformly stenciled, so let’s enjoy for now this early foray into the form. The porcelain body, from the reverse, is considerably thick and shows the work to reconcile the curve of the cavetto into the angular shape of the dish.  The reverse is decorated with three clusters of flowering and fruiting prunus branches. 

There is a similar dish in the Shibata Collection | The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, #0100  with the same porcelain body, rim decoration, and reverse decoration dated 1630 ~ 1640.

The dish is in perfect condition with no evidence of damage, cracks, or repairs. The glaze even and lustrous.  There is a firing flaw with missing glaze almost in the center of the dish.   There are areas of glaze pooling and missing glaze.  There are pock marks and iron spots and the small foot ring is uneven - all hallmarks and expected features of the very earliest Japanese porcelains. 

D: 14.3 cm

H:  2.8 cm