A LARGE JAPANESE IMARI CHARGER

A LARGE JAPANESE IMARI CHARGER

EDO PERIOD, C.1700

Typically decorated in gilt, underglaze blue, red and black enamels, the well painted with the shochikubai (the Three Friends of Winter), the branches of prunus, bamboo and pine issuing from a large tripod vessel, the cavetto and rim with a band of flowering peonies and two large ho-o birds in flight, the underside with flowering sprays, 53.4cm.

See the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, access. no.7333-1860 for a comparable dish previously in the collection of Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony.