IMPRESSED KENZAN, EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)

Details

A Chawan [Tea Bowl]
Impressed Kenzan, Edo period (19th century)
Of shioge [salt jar] form, decorated in a deep cream glaze and various coloured enamels on a crackled ground with abstract poppies and kuchibeni [dark iron glaze on the rim], two repairs in gold lacquer, an impressed signature Kenzan within the foot ring
10.7cm. diam.

Provenance

N. Strauss Collection
Yamanaka Collection

Literature

Soame Jenyns, Japanese Pottery (London, 1971), pl. 102B

Lot Essay

Shards from the Narutaki kiln show that this impressed seal was used between 1699 and 1712. The decoration could have been done by artisans such as Seiemon and Magobei. Seiemon was the son of Nonomura Ninsei.1

1. Richard L. Wilson, The Art of Ogata Kenzan: Persona and Production in Japanese Ceramics, (Tokyo, 1991), p.238

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