A JAPANESE SHOKI-IMARI DISH

A JAPANESE SHOKI-IMARI DISH

EDO PERIOD, C.1630-40

The well decorated in underglaze cobalt blue with a small hare prancing beneath a scrolling cloud, inscribed to the side 'Spring White Hare' in a rectangular cartouche, the design created in fukizumi with paper stencils covered in splashed ink, the outlines drawn afterwards in cobalt blue, the surface speckled with sand or grit, raised on a circular unglazed foot, 20.3cm.

Provenance: formerly a Japanese private collection.

See Portland Art Museum, access. no.2018.76.21 for a related Shoki-Imari dish depicting a rabbit prancing under a cloud. Also, see the British Museum, access. no.1959,0418.1 for a dish with the moon and rabbit. Cf. R S Jenyns, Japanese Porcelain, pl.6B, where the British Museum dish is discussed.

This dish is an example of early porcelain produced at the Tengudani kiln in Arita. The original design was Chinese; the hare is often represented pounding the elixir of life.