SIGNED KAWAMOTO MASUKICHI SEI AND SETO KITOKEN, THE SECOND SIGNED FUKAGAWA SEI, AND FUKAGAWA MARK, MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY)

The first generation Kawamoto Masukichi of Seto was adopted by the fifth generation Kawamoto Hansuke in 1858. He had already, by 1854, been concerned with the export of Western style porcelain, and became independent in 1864. He exhibited a blue and white decorative plaque at the 1876 Paris Exposition which was so good that some of his contemporaries, it is said, broke it to ascertain whether it was really porcelain. In 1885 he adopted Sakutaro, the second son of the fifth generation, and retired with the name Kitoken Masuyama. Sakutaro continued as the second generation Masukichi, using the art name Kitoken, and became one of the most famous porcelain artists of the Meiji era.

The Mt. Fuji mark is that of Fukagawa Tadatsugu, son of Eizaemon, who was one of the co-founders of the Koransha company, and whose work is marked with a stylized orchid [Ran] flower. Tadatsugu became independent in 1887, and following his success at the Chicago Exposition of 1893 he established Fukagawa Seiji (Fukagawa Porcelain) in 1894 to make export tableware.