Japanese Kakiemon Style Jar, Late 17th Century

Ref: W658

Japanese kakiemon style jar, late 17th century, of shouldered ovoid form, painted in iron-red, green, blue and yellow enamels with a continuous band of chrysanthemum and grasses growing amongst rocks with flying insects overhead, the everted rim encircled by a band of green and yellow lappets below iron red bands of diaper and stiff leaves.

Dimensions:

Height: 21.4 cm. (8 3/8in.)

Condition:

Two light hairlines running from the shoulder, the longest approximately 10cm.

Notes:

Not the same but interesting

The term ‘Kakiemon’ refers to a style of Japanese ware decorated in delicate overglaze enamels and sometimes underglaze cobalt, first produced in the 17th century around the Arita region of Kyushu. With its milky white porcelain body and designs of figures and flowers, Kakiemon proved particularly popular amongst European buyers. Consequently, European manufactories including Meissen and Chelsea, as well as Chinese kilns capitalised on its commercial success and began to produce Kakiemon imitations. As noted by the authors of ‘Porcelain for Palaces’ (John Ayers, Oliver Impey and J.V.G Mallet), the term is useful in the identification of general style and palette, but should not be understood to mean that these pieces can be attributed to a specific, shared site of production.

For further reading, see: Ayers, John, Impey, Oliver, Mallet, J.V.G.. Porcelain for Palaces: The Fashion for Japan in Europe, 1650-1750. London: OCS, 1990; Impey, Oliver. The Early Porcelain Kilns of Japan: Arita in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996