Chinese & Japanese Works of Art

Flowering prunus or plum blossom is one of the most iconic of the decorative designs used by Chinese potters and first appears in the Kangxi period (1662-1722). Kangxi ginger jars in the pattern were highly prized by Victorian collectors with one example, the legendary ‘Huth’ jar, fetching 5900 guineas, a little over £6000, at auction in 1905, a price equivalent to over a quarter pf a million pounds today. The tree symbolises perseverance and renewal and was usually shown against a pattern of ‘cracked ice, representing the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring. Branches of plum blossom convey the ‘Five Blessings’ : longevity, wealth, health, love of virtue and a peaceful death. The number five was an auspicious number for the Chinese and is reflected in the five petal form of the prunus flower.

Once evolved, the design was continuously repeated by Chinese potters and is even produced today. Many of late nineteenth century pieces display a rather more slapdash interpretation of the pattern as here where the ‘cracked ice’ of the eighteenth century pieces is replaced by the repeated brush strokes of a blue wash ground and the painting of the tree itself is sketchy. The style of decoration and the paste of the foot indicate a circa date to around 1900, but this modest interpretation of centuries old pattern still possesses a charm of its own.

The town of Arita in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū island, was a major centre for the production of porcelains in Japan. Best known for blue and white pieces it also produced polychrome wares as well, including the familiar imari colourings. While similar to Imari, the wider palette of colours used here is usually termed ‘Arita’ and the decorative appeal of the style is clear. These bowls probably come from an original set of five and with slightly coarser decoration than usual were probably made for the domestic market. The paste of the foot implies a dating to the Meiji era (1868 - 1912) probably around 1880.

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Trade with Japan in the seventeenth century was predominantly directed by the Dutch merchants who had a trading station at Nagasaki. It was their requirements which dictated what the potteries at Arita should make and by the 1660s they were demanding ‘red wares’, the Japanese term for pieces in the colourings of underglaze blue, red and gold, sometimes with additional colours as well. Once made, these porcelains were sent to the port of Imari from where they began their journey to the West and from which they were to take their name. They proved to be immediately popular on their arrival in Holland and the auctions of the cargoes as they arrived were extremely successful. This led to a plentiful supply of chargers, bowls and vases (many with covers and some forming part of a five piece garniture) which were to decorate the royal and aristocratic homes not only of Holland itself but throughout Europe and particularly in Great Britain, where they can be seen today.

While the forms were relatively plain, the decoration was lavish, employing panels with floral or animal elements on a densely covered ground, often with swirling designs. Two typical examples are illustrated in images (9) and (10), both dating from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. The popularity of the style naturally led to it being copied and the Chinese started to produce it from the late Kangxi period (1662-1722) onwards, occasionally following the originals closely but soon producing their own adaptations which were often slightly more restrained and refined. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Imari exports from Japan and China had lapsed but their place was soon taken by pieces from the European and British manufacturers. In England both Spode and Mason’s Ironstone, amongst others, produced their own version of ‘Imari’, even attempting vases in the colourings as well as flatware. Eventually Japan re-entered the market and from 1860s onwards the West was again supplied in quantity with their Imari wares, although by the end of the century some of these were of rather poor quality.

But at their best, the Japanese workshops in the nineteenth century could well match the work of their predecessors and this charger is a prime example. The form is almost that of a very shallow bowl with the sides evenly curving upwards (see image 4) and an unglazed footrim to the reverse. The nineteenth century decorators often created their own designs, but the decoration here follows the originals very closely indeed, even in the colouring of the underglaze blue which has an almost blackish tinge which is also seen in the two earlier examples illustrated. There are three large fan shape panels with flowering peony and three smaller ones with lotus leaf borders and ‘ho ho’ birds, all on a blue ground with stylised gilt floral decoration. One can almost see a wheel here and the design nearly seems to be in motion which was, again, a feature of earlier pieces. The reverse has just three sprays of peony which allows one to see the quality of the glaze.This, combined with the paste of the foot and the general quality of the decoration all point to a mid nineteenth century dating, probably circa 1870 after trade with Japan resumed as a result of the Meiji restoration.

Japanese Imari wares deservedly retain their popularity today and this charger would be an elegant addition to a contemporary interior or even indeed to a stately home itself.

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Yoshitoshi Tsukioka (1839-1892) was one of the last masters of ‘ukiyo-e’ (literally ‘images of the floating world’) a tradition of paintings and prints which flourished in Japan from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Known at first for his ‘Bloody Prints’ which concentrated on violence and the depiction of death, Yoshitoshi moved on to gentler themes later in his life, culminating in the series of one hundred prints entitled ‘One Hundred Aspects of the Moon’ which was published by Akiyama Buemon between 1885 and 1892, the final images appearing in the year of the artist’s death. The prints featured subjects from traditional Japanese and Chinese history and legend with the moon appearing in all but a few, giving a linking motif for the series as a whole. They were released singly or in groups every few months and proved to be enormously popular, with queues forming of collectors eager to purchase the new releases as soon as they became available.

This print was entitled ‘Kagekado, Moon of Yamaki Mansion’ and was issued in March 1886, therefore one of the earliest in the series. The scene depicted comes from the ‘Heike monogatari’ or ‘The Tale of the Heike’ an account complied before 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Yoshitoshi’s audience would, no doubt, have been familiar with this. At the beginning of the conflict the head of the Minamoto clan sent his retainer, Kagekado, to kill the leader of the Taira clan, Kanetaka. We see here Kanetaka behind a screen, lit up by the moon, with his sword poised to strike. But Kagekado cunningly put his helmet onto the end of his spear causing Kanetaka to attempt to aim for it which left him exposed and allowed Kagekado to strike in turn a fatal blow and kill him. Yoshitoshi illustrates the moment just before Kanetaka’s death with Kagekado about to make the deadly thrust with his spear with deceptive helmet about to fall off. The detail is exceptional with particular attention given to the wood panel to the rear, created with an imitation woodgrain effect, where a woodblock’s natural grain is emphasized through soaking in water; in addition the black details have been burnished to imitate lacquer.

The artist's seal, ‘Taiso’, is printed in red relief within a rectangular cartouche to the lower left and his signature can be seen above (see image 4). The title, ‘Kagekado, Moon of Yamaki Mansion’, appears in the square cartouche to the upper right and the series title, ‘One Hundred Aspects of the Moon’, in the rectangular cartouche next to it (see image 5). On the reverse is affixed an identification note from the British Museum dated 1983 confirming the artist and the subject of the print which appears to have survived in a remarkably fine state of preservation.

The striking glaze effects seen here are usually attributed to the kilns at Shiwan, a district of the provincial town Foshan which is located near to Guangzhou, better known in the West as Canton, in the Guangdong province. But the place of manufacture is here clearly advertised by the mark on the base which attributes it to the well known potteries of Jingdezhen, for centuries one of China’s most prolific producers of porcelains for both the domestic and export markets. This particular glaze, though, seems to be a late twentieth century creation with no obvious precedents from the past. Just possibly it derived from an accident of the firing process which was then deliberately imitated. Certainly, the ‘look’ is modern and the interior of the neck reveals one of the hallmarks of the very late pieces made at Jingdezhen where the small but regular potting rings indicate manufacture by machine rather than the hand of a potter (see image 8). The sandy and slightly coarse paste of the foot is fully consistent with this.

By repute, similar vases were bought new in the 1980s so there is, at least, a degree of age here and the overall effects combine sophisticated techniques with inventive decoration to produce a piece of considerable and striking appeal.

(As sometimes happened with the manufacture of larger ceramic items, this vase emerged from the kiln with a slight ‘lean’ when viewed from certain angles, probably due to irregular shrinkage of the clay body during the firing process. Images (11) and (12) are intended to highlight the ‘fault’ but the final image (13) shows how this can easily be corrected with the addition of a wood stand built up inside to provide corrective support.)

Chinese cork carving, also known as cork sculpture, is a traditional Chinese art form depicting intricate landscapes with pavilions and animals. The cork (from cork bark of trees) is cut, carved, coloured and glued together into pictures after which it is wood-framed, usually painted in black lacquer, with clear glass protection. The tradition seems to have begun in the early twentieth century when the Chinese wood carving artist Wu Qiqi from Xiyuan village in Fuzhou was inspired by a wood carving picture that brought back from Germany to create something in imitation using locally cork for the main elements with rice paper plant to form the animals. The sculptures proved popular and many were exported. This piece is an excellent example with a particularly attractive frame and probably dates to before the Second World War.

This is an example of Japanese marquetry technique known as ‘Yosegi-Zaiku’ in which intricate geometric patterns made from small pieces of wood were used to decorate the surfaces of small pieces of furniture such as jewellery cabinets or ‘kotan-su’ (kodansu). The technique originated in the town of Hakone, near to Tokyo, in the Edo period (1601/3 to 1868) but continued into the Meiji era (1868-1912) and beyond. Some of the pieces produced have an elaborate array of designs, but what we appear to have here is a sample or specimen piece showing the types of effect the craftsman could produce. This is further complicated by the fact that the top right drawer, which has no decoration at all and is not signed underneath like the other two, appears to be a later replacement with a different form of handle. But there is still some charm and no small amount of skill here. Dating is most probably to the late nineteenth century and this experimental ‘kodansu’ could easily find a place in an early twenty first century setting.

This piece comes from an original tea service which would have comprised a wide variety of objects decorated in the same pattern to include a teapot, cover and stand, a caddy and cover, a sugar bowl, a cream jug and cover, bowls and saucers and so forth. The form can be seen (along with a matching teapot stand) at Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinese Export Porcelain pl 149. Dating is to the middle of the Qianlong period (1736-1795) around 1760. The quality of the decoration speaks for itself and this piece has survived intact with very little wear to the decoration.