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Large Japanese Carved Kamakura Bori Lacquer Tea Tray
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Pre 1940 item# 806212 (stock# 11E-143)
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203-929-7312
$295
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This lovely round red and black lacquer tray with hand carved peony blossoms and leaves was crafted in a technique known as kamakura-bori and dates to the early 20th century. The alternating layers of color create a rich effect on the low relief carving, adding to its three dimensional quality. There is a wonderful depth and patina to the richly textured finish of this tray, which was very likely a tea ceremony presentation tray. The reverse is simply finished with red lacquer. With its large crimson-colored petals, the Chinese and Japanese consider the tree peony (“botan”) to be the “king of flowers,” regarding its showy blossom as a symbol of good fortune, high honor and the spring season.
Kamakura-bori is a type of Japanese lacquer ware which consists of carved wood decorated with layers of black and red lacquer which are often rubbed down and polished to achieve a mottled effect so the red lacquer shows through in certain places on the carving. It is said to have originated during the Kamakura period and was based on Chinese models. Of the various types of provincial lacquer wares, kamakura-bori is outstanding. From the beginning of the Meiji period, it was produced in great quantities, not only in Kamakura proper. Its uncluttered beauty was much favored for eating and writing utensils as well as implements used in the tea ceremony. Because of the Japanese preference for “sabi” and “shibui,” the very simplicity and unaffectedness of kamakura-bori lacquer work makes it a special favorite among connoisseurs. CONDITION is excellent, with only minor wear on the back consistent with age and usage. DIMENSIONS: 14” (35.5 cm) diameter, ¾” (2 cm) deep.
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Japanese Blue and White Arita Porcelain Hibachi
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Pre 1930 item# 651147 (stock# 2-817)
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203-929-7312
$475
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This lovely Imari sometsuke (blue and white porcelain) hibachi is heavily potted in ovoid form and dates to the early 20th century. The stenciled background on the body is decorated with a scrolling vine (tako karakusa) and pawlonia (kiri) leaf design against which are centered four white curvilinear medallions, two enclosing scenes of mountainous landscapes and the other two with chrysanthemums and birds. Thin borders with a key fret design surround both the curved top and the heavy foot.
Hibachi were finely crafted braziers used in old homes and shops to provide heat, warm sake and boil water for tea. This portable fireplace was also the emotional center of the home, since family and friends gathered around its welcoming warmth. Ceramic hibachi made their appearance during the Meiji period and at once gained widespread popularity. A porcelain hibachi became the status symbol of the day. In today’s homes, these old hibachi make stunning coffee tables (just cover it with a round piece of glass) or impressive jardinieres. They are prized for their craftsmanship and can be utilized in many imaginative ways very different from their original purpose. We know of several collectors who use porcelain hibachi to display their treasures such as inro, netsuke, sword furniture or lacquer combs beneath the glass top.
CONDITION is excellent, with normal wear consistent with age and usage. There are no cracks, chips or restorations. DIMENSIONS: 16” (40.7 cm) diameter, 11 ½” (29.2 cm) high. WEIGHT: 20 pounds.
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Japanese Seto Ware Sake Flask in Tea Whisk Form
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Pre 1900 item# 579939 (stock# 2A-597)
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203-929-7312
$175
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Looking very much like a chasen or tea whisk, this unusual folk ceramic stoneware sake bottle (“tokkuri”) is glazed in a rich almost iridescent dark brown glaze and likely hails from the Seto kilns of the mid to late 19th century. Iron brown glaze covers the ribbed body, and black glaze splashed around the neck flows down into the ribs, further accentuating the bamboo whisk shape. The foot rim and base are unglazed. One of the six ancient kilns of Japan, Seto is a high fired ceramic ware produced in the Seto and Mino domains of Gifu Prefecture. A chasen is the bamboo whisk used to froth green tea during the tea ceremony (“chanoyu”). The simplicity and shape of this flask would make it a most appropriate tea ceremony accoutrement.
Folk-craft products or “mingei,” of which this sake flask is representative, are objects used by common people. These commonplace, functional artifacts are endowed with a beauty directly connected with their utility – a beauty that is simple, humble and unassuming. The qualities of beauty found in these objects are seen to derive from their having been made by craftsman working close to nature, using simple techniques and traditional styles. Condition is excellent; there is only a small chip in the unglazed foot rim. Dimensions: 6” (5.3 cm) high, 2 ¾” (7 cm) diameter.
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Imari Sake Bottle in Square Form, Meiji
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Pre 1920 item# 413878 (stock# 2C-391)
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203-929-7312
$975
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This fine Japanese porcelain tokkuri (sake bottle) in pleasing square form with stepped top and flared neck is richly hand painted with birds, figures and foliage. Meiji period, (1868-1912). There is a red “fuku” (happiness or good fortune) mark painted on the unglazed base. Each side features highly decorated panels positioned asymmetrically amid flowers and vines on a pure white ground. Fan shaped panels contain figures of bijin (beautiful women) beneath flowering cherry trees, and heart shaped panels enclose ho-o birds (phoenix) and small birds in flight in bamboo groves. Each element of design is hand painted in the brilliant Imari palette used on pieces of superior quality, i.e., iron-red, green, yellow, aubergine, blue and gilt enamels. The shoulder is hand painted in rich overglaze iron red enamel with gold borders and highlights, with circular medallions containing phoenix and dragons at each corner. An iron red and gold leaf design ascends up the neck. This wonderfully decorative form of sake bottle is in perfect condition. Dimensions: 8 ½” high, 3 ¾” square at base.
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Three Ando Cloisonne Enamel Tea Plates, Shochikubai
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Pre 1960 item# 537726 (stock# 8-075)
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203-929-7312
$225 for Set of Three
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These three decorative wireless Japanese cloisonné “meimeizara” (plates for the tea ceremony) are decorated with pine, bamboo and plum blossoms (“shochikubai”) in soft translucent enamels on a shimmering foil ground. They date to the mid-20th century and come with their original velvet-lined presentation box. There is a paper label of the Ando Company on the reverse side which is finished in shiny black enamel. Delicate plum blossoms are outlined in pink and green enamels on the lower section of one plate. Purple, green and blue pine boughs decorate the second dish, and the third dish has green, yellow and purple bamboo leaves. The shochikubai is a widespread decorative and symbolic motif made up of the pine, plum blossom and bamboo. Sometimes referred to as the Three Elements of Happiness or the Three Friends of Winter, they are symbolic of staying true to high ideals of scholarship, strength and beauty in time of hardship.
The Ando Cloisonne Company began business in 1880 and has continued to produce fine cloisonné enamel wares. The company has won many prizes at Expositions in Japan and abroad and was granted appointment to the Imperial Household since 1900. Condition is excellent, with no chips, breaks or cracks. The tiny faint brown spots seen on the rims of the plum and bamboo plates are firing flaws beneath the enamel. Dimensions: 4 ½” (11.5 cm) diameter, 3/8” (1 cm) high.
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Signed Oribe Pottery Chawan or Tea Bowl
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Tea Articles:
Pre 1920 item# 37599 (stock# 2B-524)
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B & C ANTIQUES
203-929-7312
$275
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Japanese Oribe ware ceramic tea bowl (“chawan”) decorated with a stylized brown iron oxide floral pattern on a cream ground with a thick mottled copper green drip glaze on the upper rim. We believe it to be an early 20th century piece, most likely Meiji. This almost cylindrical bowl has a subtle indentation on the edge of its lip. It is thickly potted, curving to a slightly raised circular foot ring, with an impressed unidentified two-character mark or signature on the base where the bowl meets the unglazed foot. Oribe ware, a folk pottery produced in kilns located in Mino and Seto, is particularly Japanese in taste and was never made for export. Its bold and spontaneous designs and contours were generally asymmetrically executed in styles that were distinct, imaginative and vigorous. Oribe pottery derives its name from Furuta Oribe, a famous 16th century tea master. His influence over the pottery production of his day led to the development of a certain type of ware that was later named after him, nearly all relating in some way to the tea ceremony. He was a tea master who set the standard for tea ceremony ware and changed a utilitarian ceramic industry into one that was primarily concerned with pottery as works of art. CONDITION is perfect. DIMENSIONS: 4¼” (10.8 cm) diameter, 3” (7.7 cm) high.
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Signed Bizen Pottery Model of a Turnip, Meiji
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Pre 1900 item# 430249 (stock# 2B-761)
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203-929-7312
$650
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This large and boldly modeled Japanese Bizen ware okimono depicts an incredibly realistic turnip with a profusion of leaves. Meiji period, late 19th century. The signature of the artist –- whom we have been unable to identify -- is stamped on the back just above the base and beneath the wonderful curl in the lower leaf. Although the piece is unglazed, the top side of the turnip and sections of the leaves are randomly covered with beautiful golden flecks of wood ash glaze from the kiln. The details on this turnip are simply extraordinary, rendering a still life model that looks remarkably like the real thing. The skill of the potter is clearly shown on the leaves, which are realistically veined on both sides and masterfully formed. For centuries, Bizen has been highly regarded for its dark red-brown stoneware made from iron-rich clay with a natural ash glaze. Bizen is unglazed but fired at such a high a temperature that a natural glaze is formed on the surface. Also upon firing, wood ash flies up in the kiln and is deposited randomly on the pottery, giving each piece its own individuality and vitality. “Okimono” is the generic name for Japanese decorative objects which have no utilitarian function but are merely created to please the eye. Bizen okimono typically represent animals, birds or human figures, and it is most unusual to see an inanimate form such as this vegetable modeled in Bizen clay. (See “Bizen Okimono” by Robert L. Yellin in DARUMA 31.) The turnip (“kabu” or “kabura”), harvested in autumn and winter, is a poetic symbol of late winter. In some localities, the turnip is a traditional offering on small tables set up at the New Year. Condition is perfect. Dimensions: 8 ½” long x 8 ½” high x 6” deep.
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Nabeshima Sometsuke Porcelain Dish, Edo Period
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Pre 1900 item# 528266 (stock# 2B-769)
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203-929-7312
$995
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The interior of this low, flat, gracefully curved Japanese Nabeshima sometsuke (blue and white porcelain) bowl is beautifully decorated with rock peonies (“iwa-botan”) on a rocky outcrop in various shades of soft underglaze blue on a pure white ground. Early to mid-19th century. The underside rim, decorated with connecting medallions which form the Chinese coin design, and the high foot rim with serrated blue comb are hallmarks of Nabeshima ware. Characteristic of Japanese aristocratic style is the gracefully rendered, naturalistic treatment of rock peony blossoms placed off-center inside the bowl. This dynamic arrangement creates an effective use of empty space, which becomes an integral part of the design. (An identical dish is illustrated in Plate 165 in “Kouki Nabeshima, Book I,” by Kazuyoshi Ogi. Kouki Nabeshima wares date from 1736 to 1868.) Nabeshima ware is considered to be the most Japanese of all the porcelains and the most technically perfect. It was made at Okawachi, north of Arita, and was named after the prince who founded the kilns at the end of the 17th century. The porcelain was of much higher quality than that made for export and was originally made as presentation ware for the local nobility. Production was limited, and less than perfect specimens were destroyed. Its elegance was considered to be the epitome of refinement, and production methods were kept a carefully guarded secret. From 1868 on, Nabeshima wares were produced for domestic use and Western export. The motifs found on Nabeshima wares were usually simple, naturalistic and structurally bold. Decoration of dishes consisted of underglaze blue and white (“sometsuke”) and an overglaze colored enamel (“iro-Nabeshima”) technique. Nabeshima porcelains were well known for their high foot rim (“takadiazara”) which was enhanced with an underglaze blue comb pattern (“kusitadake”). They were generally not marked. The reverse rims of dishes were usually enhanced with repetitive flowers and leaves or with the cash pattern in underglaze blue. These underside patterns were executed in great detail, and this in itself is an important characteristic of Nabeshima ware. Condition is excellent, and the painting of the comb pattern on the foot is extremely well controlled. Dimensions: 8 1/8” (20.7 cm) diameter, 2 3/8” (6 cm) high.
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Arita Porcelain Dish Meijin Karakusa 18th Century
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Pre 1837 VR item# 551671 (stock# 2B-800)
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203-929-7312
$330
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This classic early Japanese blue and white ko Imari sometsuke (blue and white porcelain) dish with scalloped edge is decorated with a handpainted “meijin karakusa” design around a central medallion of shochikubai (pine, plum and bamboo). Late 18th /early 19th century. The meijin karakusa pattern, which is one variation of the scrolling vine pattern, is in the form of delicate denticulate leaves and little m-shaped curls. This is one of the many scrolling vine patterns which appear on domestic market blue and white Arita and Imari wares. This decorative style, with its formal white ring between the broad border and the central round medallion, developed by 1750 and continued through the early 19th century. (See Figure 17 in “The Lost Century: Japanese Arita Porcelain 1720-1820 in Britain” by noted authority Irene Finch.) The exterior is decorated with underglaze cobalt designs of tako-karakusa (octopus vine), and there is an apocryphal six-character mark of Chenghua (a Chinese emperor in the Ming Dynasty who set very high porcelain standards) on the foot painted in underglaze blue. Three blue lines encircle the foot ring.
Blue and white sometsuke porcelains with a karakusa designs are examples of wares made for the domestic Japanese market, and they are prized by Japanese collectors. Arita is a town on the island of Kyushu which has been a center of Japanese porcelain production since the seventeenth century. With Arita blue and whites, the blue is produced from a cobalt or indigo pigment and is painted straight onto the biscuit, after which the piece is glazed and fired. Ceramics for everyday use were made at the same kilns that were producing highly ornate, purely decorative wares primarily for export. Condition is excellent, with only a few tiny and shallow glaze frits under the rim which occurred in the kiln during firing. Dimensions: 8” (20.2 cm) diameter, 1 1/8” (3cm) high.
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Pair of Edo Japanese Wooden Temple Sculptures: Baku
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Devotional Objects:
Pre 1800 item# 444410 (stock# 11-318)
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B & C ANTIQUES
203-929-7312
$2,850 for Pair
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This rare and wonderful pair of 18th century carved wooden temple ornaments, which represent the heads of the elephant-like creature known as a “Baku” (“eater of dreams”), were architectural elements originally mounted under the eaves of the roof of a Japanese temple. Each of these fierce mythical animals was expressively carved in great detail from a thick and richly grained single block of wood. Both have large oval-shaped eyeballs bulging beneath bushy furrowed eyebrows, with long arched trunks curled downward and two long curved tusks extending from their mouths. One has an open mouth revealing two rows of teeth and a protuberant tongue; the other has its mouth closed. Both sculptures have traces of their original paint. Because these figures protruded from the outside a temple, they have the distinct weathered surface that results from centuries of exposure to the elements. Generically called “kibana” (temple roof support finials), these large wooden temple ornaments were typically carved in the form of mythical beasts. (Note: two pair of kibana in the form of karashishi grace the entrance stairway to the Japanese collections at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.) The Japanese artistic tradition includes a large number of imaginary creatures. The Baku, like so many mythical beings, is a curious mingling of various animals. First chronicled in Shinto mythology, this creature is described as having a hairy head with a long proboscis like an elephant’s trunk, two tusks, four claws on each foot, a spiny backbone, a spotted hide, and the tail of an ox. Baku are considered to be a generally benevolent creatures which stalk the dreamscape, devouring the evil demons that cause nightmares. Superstitious people of Edo era Japan believed that bad dreams were caused by evil spirits. It was believed that if the Baku could be induced to eat a horrible dream, the creature had the power to change it into good fortune. When a person awakens from a nightmare, he should call out immediately to the Baku to eat his bad dreams. According to Shinto legend, the Baku will promptly consume the evil entity responsible for these nocturnal terrors and bestow good fortune upon whoever has called out to him. As architectural elements, Baku were thought to protect the entrance to Buddhist temples and were placed under the roof of religious structures to ward off evil spirits. To insure the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu’s peaceful eternal rest, numerous sculptures of Baku are found at the Tosho-gu Shrine in Nikko, which houses his mausoleum. This pair of Baku kibana originated from Kumamoto prefecture in Japan, once known as a powerful shogunate. Architectural temple elements, particularly those in the form of a baku and in pairs, are quite rare, and they are seldom seen on the market today. (A comparable pair of mounted Baku kibana, lot #290, sold at Sotheby’s in New York on March 24, 1999, for $11,500.) These kibana are in good original condition with some expected abrasions, cracks and insect damage due to extensive age and weathering. There is a loss of the left paw on one Baku. Each sculpture has been custom mounted on a 2” thick solid granite base to facilitate and enhance their display. Dimensions: 18” (46 cm) long, 7” (18 cm) wide, 10 ½” (27 cm) high. Weight: 25 pounds each with base.
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