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Massive Edo Blue and White Crane Maru Mon Charger browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Japanese:Porcelain: Pre 1900: item # 793650 Please refer to our stock # 2-837 when inquiring.
B & C Antiques P. O. Box 291 Derby, CT 06418 203-929-7312 Guest Book $3,800 |
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The interior of this stunning 24 inch (61 cm) Japanese Imari blue and white porcelain charger (“sometsuke ozara”) is decorated all over with circled crane crests (“tsuru maru mon”) hand painted on a deep vibrant lapis lazuli blue (“ruri gi”) ground. Edo period, early to mid-19th century. A “maru mon” is a circled family crest, and in this design, the ascending crane’s upturned wings actually delineate the circle form. The crane (“tsuru”) is one of the most popular and auspicious of Japanese symbols. The crane alone symbolizes good fortune, and a flock of cranes represents many good wishes. An elegant and elaborate design which was originally associated with the Heian court, the crane proved to be popular as a family crest among the warrior class. The exterior is decorated with underglaze cobalt designs of phoenix (ho-o birds) and paulownia flowers, and there is an apocryphal four-character mark of Chenghua (a Chinese emperor in the Ming Dynasty who set very high porcelain standards) on the foot painted in underglaze blue. A blue border pattern and four blue lines encircle the heavy unglazed foot ring, and eight spur marks appear on the glazed foot. Oversized dishes (“ozara”) first became popular among the wealthy urban elite in the 16th century, and they were made at the Arita kilns for the feudal lords (daimyos) for food service at banquets or at other ceremonial events. In the early 19th century, when ordinary townspeople had become affluent and restaurants multiplied, the popularity of large blue and white dishes became even more widespread. In response to this new affluence, large dishes were produced in some quantity and sold throughout Japan. With the penetration of urban culture to rural districts due to improved land and sea transportation, Arita porcelain became widely distributed, and many of these oversized dishes were used at large dinner parties held by leading families in rural districts. This huge thickly potted charger is an exceptional example of high quality sometsuke porcelain made for the Japanese market, and pieces of this size and quality are rare to find outside of Japan. A similar but smaller charger is illustrated in Figure 62, “Ruri Gi Tsuru Maru Mon Ozara,” in the rare limited edition book entitled SOMETSUKE IMARI OZARA (“Imari Ware: Blue and White Large Dishes”) by Masahiko Kawahara, Tokyo, 1974. This is truly an extraordinary piece. CONDITION is excellent, with only a few light surface scratches and glaze dimples. DIMENSIONS: 24” (61 cm) diameter, 3” (7.6 cm) deep. |
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