A RARE JAPANESE ARITA WHITE GLAZED DISH EDO PERIOD

A RARE JAPANESE ARITA WHITE GLAZED DISH

EDO PERIOD, 17TH CENTURY

The thinly potted nigoshide body a creamy white colour, the rim irregularly folded to create a wavy pattern, the well incised with two large chrysanthemum flowerheads amongst scrolling leafy tendrils issuing from the rim, the reverse left undecorated and with spur marks, raised on a short foot, 25cm.

Provenance: formerly the property of a Director of John Swire & Sons (HK) and Cathay Pacific Airways, and thence by descent. Many ceramic pieces from his collection are now at Bath East Asian Museum, by repute.

Cf. O Impey, Japanese export porcelain, Catalogue of the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, p.246, no.435 for another Arita dish with a similar wavy rim. Also G Lang, The Wrestling Boys, An Exhibition of Chinese and Japanese ceramics from the 16th to the 18th century in the collection at Burghley House, p.40 no.98, for another dish similar to the one at the Ashmolean. It is notable that both these dishes feature underglaze and overglaze polychrome decoration unlike this one. It is possible this is a blank piece originally meant to be later enamelled.