A RARE JAPANESE KO-KUTANI BOWL

A RARE JAPANESE KO-KUTANI BOWL

EDO PERIOD, C.1660

Decorated in purple, yellow, green and blue enamels and overglaze iron-red with four large butterflies fluttering across the well, with smaller red insects flying around them, the underside painted with three further butterflies and red insects, with circular rings encircling a fuku mark to the centre of the base, 15cm dia.

Cf. The Complete Catalogue of the Shibata Collection, The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, p.69 no.0490 for a ko-kutani dish decorated with a central butterfly in an ochre ring.

Butterflies are rare as a central motif on ko-Kutani dishes. The design originated in the Heian period (794-1185) and was the symbol of the Taira clan.