A FINE JAPANESE MINIATURE SATSUMA VASE POSSIBLY BY YABU MEIZAN

A FINE JAPANESE MINIATURE SATSUMA VASE POSSIBLY BY YABU MEIZAN

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

The baluster body richly decorated with petal-shaped panels variously enclosing boys playing musical instruments, traditional multi-storey buildings in mountainous landscapes, further boys climbing on a giant lantern, monkeys eating peaches, more boys at play and many butterflies amongst chrysanthemum; some panels with hidden signatures reading Meizan; with bands of complex brocade patterns, geometric designs and scrolling tendrils above the foot, to the shoulder and neck, the rim painted to the inside with a further band of scrolling tendrils delicately rendered in gilt on the black ground, the base with a square seal mark for Meizan sei, 12.2cm.

Cf. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art: Meiji no Takara, Treasures of Imperial Japan, Ceramics Pert II, Earthenware, p.62, fig. 27 for a similar seal mark reading Meizan sei which the authors explain Yabu Meizan used for his early pieces. Also, see L Lawrence, Satsuma Masterpieces from the World's Important Collections, p.242 for an illustration of the same mark listed amongst those used by Yabu Meizan.