A Nabeshima Dish
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A Nabeshima Dish

EDO PERIOD (LATE 17TH CENTURY)

Details
A Nabeshima Dish
Edo period (late 17th century)
Decorated in iron-red, blue, yellow and green enamels with keitou [plumed cockscomb], the reverse with hana-karakusa motifs, the ring foot with comb design
14.7cm. diam.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.
Sale room notice
Please note there is a similar example in the collections of the British Museum, museum number 1939,0519.10

Lot Essay

Nabeshima ware is generally considered to be the finest porcelain made in pre-modern Japan both for its supreme technical accomplishment and for its clarity, precision and cool elegance of design. An official product of the Saga fief in Hizen province, it was created for diplomatic gifts to the shogun and other feudal lords, and for domestic use by the Nabeshima family. It is generally believed that the initial Nabeshima family-sponsored kiln was built in the 1630s at Iwayakawachi in Arita, the epicentre of early porcelain production. Following a transitional phase during which the kiln was probably located at Nangawarayama, production was eventually moved to Okawachi in 1675 and placed under the direct control of the Nabeshima bureaucracy. It was then that the manufacture of fully-fledged Nabeshima ware began.

A similar example is in the collection of The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art.

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