Ming/Transitional Ko-Sometsuke Dish with Crane Under a Pine

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An Jingdezhen Kilns dish for the Japanese market fired ~1620 to 1640. 

D: 15.6 cm

H:   2.8 cm

A beautiful pair of late Ming/Transitional lotus dishes made for the Japanese market, fired in the Jingdezhen kilns during the Tianqi or Chongzhen period c.1620-1645. 

These two dishes are moulded in the shape of the lotus flower with raised details and beautiful, bright cobalt underglaze.  These dishes perfectly capture the symmetry and striking color of the lotus flower . . the reverse is rendered as the front, making them equally striking from the rear with the painted and incised lotus petals.  They bear an apocryphal Chenghua Period mark on the back, but are of a later date.

These were made for the Kaiseki meal which precedes the Japanese tea ceremony and during a period when the Jingdezhen kilns lost their Imperial patronage. This resulted in one of the most dynamic periods in Chinese porcelain as the potters turned attention to the new Japanese export market and created new designs to specifically appeal to Japanese tastes.

The lotus flower holds great cultural and symbolic significance in Chinese porcelain art. It has been a popular motif in Chinese ceramics for centuries, representing purity, rebirth, and spiritual enlightenment.

Good Condition; Dish 1 with some firing flaws only, dish 2 with a chip and line and some firing flaws.

D: 11.7cm

H:    3.1cm

A late Ming/Transitional dish made for the Japanese market, fired in the Jingdezhen kilns during the Tianqi or Chongzhen period c.1620-1645. 

Setting: 1619, the Emperor Wanli dies and imperial orders to the Jingdezhen kilns stop. In the final years of the Ming dynasty, the potters turn to commercial markets in Europe and Japan. In this example, producing wares specific to Japanese tastes for the increasingly popular tea ceremony. 

This dish has a lot going on that was probably lost on the Japanese, but fully satisfied the Chinese scholarly artists - Perhaps the subject matter is of Laozi, the Immortal who founded Daoism, he is sometimes depicted on a horse with his servant processing along a path to the gate of a fortified house with a flag - far off in the distance, beside an old gnarled pine tree that speaks of wisdom - and endurance during political upheaval - a hidden message . . . In the middle distance, beyond, and at the focal point of the dish, a home is protected behind the unyielding endurance of a mountain . . . And, in the foreground, the wealth of fishing and transport exemplified in a pair of boats - the entire story contained within a Buddhist lotus flower. 

Similar dish is in The Stenbeck Collection Part II, which was exhibited at the Heinola Museum in Finland in 2000, under the exhibition name “The Liberated Brush”.

D: 20.8 cm

H:   3.2 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, evert 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