Japanese Blue and White Arita Tankard, Circa 1680

Ref: U547

Japanese blue and white Arita tankard, circa 1680, the bulbous body decorated in bright underglaze blue with three shaped panels containing three landscape scenes; birds perching and in flight around a cliffy rockface, a mountainous landscape with an elderly man holding a parasol and fan, with his young companion and a small dog; and a lakeside scene with waterfowl and grasses; all set against a ground with dense karakusa scroll and lotus heads below a single blue line to the rim, the attached strap handle decorated with further karakusa scroll.

Dimensions:

Height: 23.5cm. (9 1/4in.)

Condition:

Hole inserted for metal lid at time of manufacture.

Notes:

A similar example from the Somae Jenyns Collection can be found at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (J111); another similar example with European silver mounts from the collection of Percival V. David can be found at the Victoria and Albert Museum (no. C.417-1918). See also, Impey, ‘Japanese Export Porcelain: Catalogue of the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford’, p.54, no.34.