Japanese pottery marks satsuma

Satsuma ware is perhaps one of the most well known of the Japanese pottery styles often richly decorated with fine detail and liberal use of gold. The name comes from the region controlled by the Shimazu clan Satsuma-han - officially Kagoshima and surrounding areas.

Satsuma pottery is the Western name for very collectable type of Japanese earthenware exported throughout the world since the Japanese Meiji period Japanese sources suggest the Satsuma pottery tradition dates from the 17thC, but firm identification of any pieces earlier than the 19thC is difficult. Kilns were established in the Satsuma area in southern Kyushu by Korean potters in the late 16th century. The first and very earliest wares are the rarest of the rare and were stonewares covered with a thick dark glaze. During the mid 19th century the pottery that today, is recognized as satsuma pottery ware was created. It is a slightly yellowish earthenware.

Japanese pottery marks satsuma

Large Satsuma vase depicting the seven gods of good fortune. Height: 38 cm. Mark: Dai Nihon Satsuma Gyokusen zo. Meiji period, circa s. The typical Satsuma ware we most of the time comes into contact with is a yellowish earthenware usually decorated with a minute decoration with Japanese figures, expressive faces or detailed oriental landscapes, or sometimes embellished with vivid dragons in relief. This ware is in fact an export product specifically designed in the mid 19th century to cater to the western export market. The Japanese themselves had very little interest in this ware. From around the s to the early s more than artist at least twenty larger studios or factories were producing "Satsuma" wares of which much were of low quality and destined for the European and American export markets. Most of the marks below will detail this latter wares since this is what we see most of. At the same time, other artists were producing exquisite wares of the highest quality. There were many masterpieces created during its heyday and several studios have created eternal fame for their names with these magnificent wares. Most high quality export 'Satsuma' is easily recognized by its finely crackled glaze and by the fact that its yellowish earthenware body does not "ring" when tapped. The production soon spread to several cities such as Kyoto, Tokyo, Nagoya, Yokohama and elsewhere throughout Japan, from the Meiji period up until today. The original Satsuma Han however has a much longer history than that.

I have been trying to verify age and worth. Meiji period. Any ideas about this piece?

Even if you don't speak, read or write Japanese, the markings on pieces of Satsuma pottery can be quite easy to decipher, providing that you follow some simple rules. To start, the markings are read in the opposite direction to English. Start at the top right hand corner and read down. If there are 2 lines of Kanji characters, move to the left and start at the top of the next line, reading downwards again. Many of the Japanese makers marks on Satsuma porcelain or pottery are simply the name of the person who made the item, or a generic marking such as "Dai Nippon Satsuma".

Large Satsuma vase depicting the seven gods of good fortune. Height: 38 cm. Mark: Dai Nihon Satsuma Gyokusen zo. Meiji period, circa s. The typical Satsuma ware we most of the time comes into contact with is a yellowish earthenware usually decorated with a minute decoration with Japanese figures, expressive faces or detailed oriental landscapes, or sometimes embellished with vivid dragons in relief. This ware is in fact an export product specifically designed in the mid 19th century to cater to the western export market. The Japanese themselves had very little interest in this ware. From around the s to the early s more than artist at least twenty larger studios or factories were producing "Satsuma" wares of which much were of low quality and destined for the European and American export markets.

Japanese pottery marks satsuma

Satsuma ware is perhaps one of the most well known of the Japanese pottery styles often richly decorated with fine detail and liberal use of gold. The name comes from the region controlled by the Shimazu clan Satsuma-han - officially Kagoshima and surrounding areas. The history goes back much further to around when Satsuma pottery was generally plain and in dark clay, very different from the 19th century pieces made for export to the West. Satsuma comes in many forms and the term is a catch-all covering highly decorated fine work, through the Awata style with enamel decoration and the later post war moriage decorated forms which are often a world away in terms of quality from the 19th century production. One of the features of Satsuma ware is the crazing, sometimes darkened, which covers the plain areas of the pottery, this can be very fine and almost invisible to the eye through to obvious and heavy. One sign of late 20th century reproductions is often the fake looking attempt to reproduce crazing. To check our stock of satsuma ware click here. Marks are most often hand painted over glaze and may include the artist as well as the Satsuma mark along with other details.

Bronze ceiling fan

Also reads Satsuma-yaki on the right. Yuzan — Meiji period I think…. Dragon ware with lithophane, probably decorated in Hong Kong. Ryozan , leading decorator for the Yasuda Company. PayPal sets this cookie to enable secure transactions through PayPal. Probably decorated by Gyokuzen for Hododa, with Hododa being the mechant in this case. The bottom left is usually written as "zan", rather than "yama". Hi Jennifer. Hello, Can anyone shed light on this jar, which I assume is Satsuma ware and the marks. Takahashi Yohei, Go art name Taizan , was the head of the 9th and last generation of the Takahashi family of Awata potters. If you see a piece with this written on, then you can assume it will be from the Meiji period

By adapting their gilded polychromatic enamel overglaze designs to appeal to the tastes of western consumers, manufacturers of the latter made Satsuma ware one of the most recognized and profitable export products of Japan for centuries, and even became one of the key sources of funding for the Meiji period reforms. Most scholars date satsuma ware's appearance to the late sixteenth [1] or early seventeenth century. The Satsuma region happened to be a great spot for the development of kilns due to its access to local clay and proximity to the Korean peninsula.

The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Mark in gilt under the Shimazu clan crest. Generic Satsuma marks refer to marks added to a Japanese ceramic piece to indicate a style in general instead being the name of a specific company, studio or any individual artist. It is considered there may be a connection with Yabu Meizan. Can anyone give me direction on this potty? Taizan VII died c. It can also be read as Meizan if running bottom to top. Hi Pam. I hope you can help. These first wares were a massive and hard stoneware, covered with a thick dark glaze, a ware that are so rare that only museums might have a few to show. Chin also used the name Gyokuzan between Mark: Below the circular Shimazu crest, a single kanji character Tomo , "companion". I have used the valuation service Satsuma Pottery Valuation Service here before and it is pretty accurate. This mark is perhaps for Kobayashi Keizan a known painter whose mark can also be found in conjunction with the of Kinkozan.