Chinese & Japanese Works of Art

Pair of Japanese ceramic Bookends, seated Boy and Girl, mid C20th

Price: £55

A pair of Japanese ceramic bookends, each modelled as a seated figure, a boy and a girl, dressed in elaborate robes, the boy wearing a typical Oriental conical hat, both holding in their upraised arms a carrier’s ‘yoke’, their throne-like chairs with gilt decoration to the sides. While figures like this were sometimes made in Europe, this pair not only look Japanese but were clearly made there. The style of the decoration and the paste of the foot both confirm this. Dating is probably to the 1950s when Japan was exporting a variety of novelty ceramic items for a Western audience. The two yokes are a strange addition. Normally these are seen with hanging containers attached, usually for water. Image 9 shows a typical and heavily burdened ‘water carrier’ figure from the late nineteenth century. Our pair here can hardly be regarded as taking a rest, so the carrying implements were presumably simply added to enhance the design. The result, though, is extremely pleasing and would more than enhance a small collection of books today.

Chinese Export Blue and White Plate with Clobbered Decoration, circa 1780

Price: £75

A Chinese Export Plate of typical form with a flat slightly everted rim and a shallow indented well, the reverse with an unglazed foot rim, decorated in underglaze blue with a stylised garden scene, rocks, peony and two birds, the edge with a narrow band of diaper patter, later decorated in bright enamels with highlighting to the decoration underneath and additional decoration to the border, eight panels, four with flower heads on a green ground alternating with four depicting fish and seaweed, the reverse with three peony blooms and a ‘shop’ mark to the centre all in iron red.

The demand in Europe for polychrome wares from China and Japan was sometimes greater than the supplies sent over and this was remedied on occasion by a second firing on arrival or later to add the colouration desired. The additional enamel decoration would fire at a much lower temperature than the original blue and white so the process was quite safe. The main exponents of the technique were based in Holland and England, often operating as quite small concerns, and there is considerable variation in the quality and style of the decoration they applied. At its best, as here, it can have a naif charm of its own. From the middle of the nineteenth century in England such pieces began to be referred to as ‘clobbered’, a word derived from ‘clobber’ which originally referred to shoe and then clothing repair work. The form and foot rim of this plate allows a secure dating to the late Qianlong period (1736-1795) and the decoration was probably applied in Holland not so long after. By 1900 its use to describe these hybrid porcelains was common and has remained so ever since. The wares are not ones for purists but for those who enjoy a bit of whimsy in a decorative style which is certainly the case here!

Please note that the wood stand is for display purposes only and is not incuded with this lot.

Chinese Famille Rose circular Potiche and Cover, Qianlong period (1736-1795), with later wood stand

Price: £750

A Chinese circular potiche and cover, the base of broad ‘U’ form with a short foot, the cover of flattened domed form with the everted rim extending outwards slightly from the base and a circular hollowed knob at the centre, the whole with a milky white glaze and lavishly decorated in Famille Rose enamels with two complementary sprays of flowering peony at the front and back and two further matching sprays on the lid, the edge of the lid dressed in brown and the centre of the knob with an iron red flower, the top rim also dressed in brown and surrounded by a small geometric pattern border in iron red.

The Famille Rose palette (the term was coined by the French art historian Albert Jacquemart, 1808 – 1875, who produced a classification system for Chinese porcelains) with its emphasis on pink colourings was introduced during the Yongzheng period (1723-1735) and used prolifically by the decorators of Chinese ceramics during the eighteenth century, being found in a variety of styles on vases, jardinieres and tablewares. The format of the decoration here shows the pattern at its best and unusually repeats the front design on the reverse with the cover matching this. More usually the main design simply trails round to the back with near blank space between the two meeting floral branches. The form, too, is not often found and is more likely to have been conceived as an independent object, perhaps one of an original pair, rather than as a component of a dinner service. In a sense it is a ‘first cousin’ to the well known ginger jar shape, examples of which can carry near identical decoration. Surviving in near perfect condition it would be a fine addition to a collection of Chinese eighteenth century export ware as well as a highly attractive decorative object in its own right.

The potiche is sold with a later Chinese wood stand, probably dating to the late nineteenth century, which is an added enhancement.

Chinese silver plate Trinket Box with ceramic plaque, C20th

Price: £25

A Chinese silver plate box and cover of ovoid form, the sides with raised stylised floral decoration and the cover with an inset ceramic plaque with a ju’i lappet border mount depicting two ladies in a garden scene. These boxes seem to have been made as tourist souvenirs and to judge from the style of painting of the plaque date to the mid twentieth century or slightly later. Some have a mirror in the underside of the cover and this may possibly, but not necessarily, be missing here.

Japanese small blue and white Jar and Cover with inner liner, decorated Prunus, late C20th

Price: £25

A small blue and white ceramic jar and cover of ovoid form with a domed lid and an inner cover underneath, the white craquelure glaze ground decorated in underglaze blue with flowering plum blossom or prunus below an elaborate border to the neck, the cover similarly decorated. While highly decorative, the work here relies on the use of stencilled designs, a technique developed by the Japanese in the early twentieth century and used on pieces exported to the West at that time. This jar is rather later and dates to the late twentieth century but retains the appeal of its earlier predecessors. The use of an inner cover or liner was a distinctively Japanese feature, but not all the jars made survive today with both their lids intact.

Japanese kang Table, carved design of phoenix, pine and waves, C20th

Price: £65

A hardwood, probably rosewood, small low table of rectangular form with four short bracket feet, the top with a deeply carved design extending over the rounded edges of a phoenix standing on a branch of a pine tree with crashing waves to the bottom left, the ground with a densely punched decorated surface, the reverse plain but with etched lettering ‘R.S’ ‘J,69’ and a ‘dymo’ label reading ‘SHIMIZU’.

The form here is more commonly associated with pieces made in China and is that of a small low table designed to be used in combination with a ‘kang’, a raised brick platform heated from below that served as a family's main living, sleeping, and dining area during colder months. But similar pieces were also made by the Japanese, sometimes in black lacquer with mother of pearl inlay, and the style of the carving here suggests Japanese rather than Chinese workmanship. All the decorative elements seen here (phoenix, pine, waves) can be found elsewhere in Japanese art but there does not seem to be any specific symbolic meaning intended, just an imaginative composition by an accomplished craftsman. Dating is probably to the first half of the twentieth century and the carved marking are almost certainly later, with the original format ‘dymo’ label dating most likely to the 1960s.

Japanese miniature wood sample Cabinet, late nineteenth century

Price: £55

A small wood cabinet with three drawers and two sliding doors, two of the drawers with marquetry inlay to the front faces both patterned and grained, the sliding doors with graining effect and the third drawer plain. Two of the drawers are signed with the same character and the underneath of the cabinet has further signature marks.

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.

Chinese Blanc de chine figure of Budai, late C20th

Price: £35

A Chinese white glazed figure of Budai, the so called ‘laughing Buddha’ modelled standing with his typically broad chest exposed, a smiling expression and a small sphere in his hand which represents the ‘wish fulfilling jewel’. These white glazed wares, termrd 'blanc de chine' were a classic of Chinese ceramics and made principally at Dehua in the Fujian province from the fourteenth century onwards becoming one of the staples of the Chinese porcelains exported to the West in the eighteenth century. But they are produced even today and the modern examples can be of surprisingly good quality as is the case here where the paste and finish of the foot suggests a late twentieth century dating. The interior is unglazed and there are scratched marks to the bottom which can be ead as either '617' or 'L19'.

Japanese turned wood tea caddy, chazutsu, mark for Hakone, C20th

Price: £45

A Japanese turned wood tea caddy, the polished surface of the base, shoulder and lid revealing the grain of the timber and contrasting with the natural bark finish of the central section. The ovoid section body is capped with a tightly fitting circular lid to ensure an airtight seal which would keep the tea fresh. Known in Japanese as ‘chazutsu’, this particular type of tea caddy was made at Hakone, a mountainous town in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, famous for its traditional wood crafts. The two character mark on the shoulder appears to comprises 根 (Ne) to the left translating as ‘root’ and 箱 (Hako) to the right translating as ‘box’ which, taken together reads ‘Hakone’. This is an excellent example of the type with an elegant shape and a fine patina and has survived in perfect condition without scratches or damage to the surface. Dating is most likely to the second half of the twentieth century.