ARITA WARE, EDO PERIOD, 1670-90

There is an identical figure of a dog at the Burghley House Collection, Stamford, Lincolnshire. It was in England as early as 1688, when it was listed in a Burghley House inventory (see John Ayers et al., Porcelain for Palaces [Oriental Ceramic Society, 1990], no. 175). For another example, see Kakiemon-ten/Kakiemon Fukuoka: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1993, pl. 65. Figures of this type, cast in molds and most enameled in the Kakiemon palette, were shipped to Europe in large numbers during the second half of the seventeenth century. The function is not entirely clear, but this example has been drilled in the center of its back, probably in Europe, for conversion to a candleholder.

From the eighteenth century, the Samson kiln in France created its own version of the spotted porcelain dog. For a handsome pair in the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, see lot 1124.