Marked Arita Sometsuke Foliate Rim Dish with Irises (item #636239)

Japanese and Chinese antiques and art from B & C

Marked Arita Sometsuke Foliate Rim Dish with Irises

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All Items: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Japanese:Porcelain: Pre 1920: item # 636239

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B & C Antiques
P. O. Box 291
Derby, CT 06418
203-929-7312

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$195

Marked Arita Sometsuke Foliate Rim Dish with Irises

This lovely Japanese blue and white porcelain (“sometsuke”) plate is boldly hand painted with large iris blossoms and a bud in brilliant cobalt blue on a clear white ground. Ca. 1900-1920, Meiji period. There is a single unidentified mark in underglaze blue on the reverse which looks somewhat like a “tama,” the sacred jewel motif. The shape of the dish with its scalloped rim, which has a thin cobalt blue border, is itself reminiscent of a flower blossom. The front is decorated with blooming irises in the foreground juxtaposed against the strong vertical leaves of the plant. The reverse is undecorated, and the thin unglazed foot is encircled with four cobalt blue lines.

The Iris (“shobu”), a sturdy, easily cultivated flower, represents the month of May and is also the main emblem of the Boys’ Day Festival. The long, flat, blade-shaped leaves are reminiscent of a sword, and thus this flower is emblematic of manly strength and has come to be symbolic of victory. Its stiff upright petals are likened to the outstanding character and virtues associated with ancient samurai warriors, and it can also be used to represent a wish for good health and renewed vitality.

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 very good, with only three small rim frits, which are pictured in the last Enlargement Photo from the pencil point to the right side. DIMENSIONS: 8 5/8” (22 cm) diameter, 1 ¼” (3.3 cm) high.