Museum Quality Japanese Gilt-Decorated Porcelain Bowl With Butterflies, Kyoto

Details

Description

Japanese Gilt-Decorated Satsuma-Style Porcelain Bowl With Butterflies, Kyoto Mark

This large Museum Quality Japanese porcelain bowl is formed with generously … Read more Japanese Gilt-Decorated Satsuma-Style Porcelain Bowl With Butterflies, Kyoto Mark

This large Museum Quality Japanese porcelain bowl is formed with generously rounded sides rising to a subtly everted rim, the exterior and interior unified by a soft, pale ground animated with an allover netted diaper pattern in fine gilt lines. The decoration is enriched with dense, painterly sprays of chrysanthemum-like blossoms and seasonal florals rendered in layered gold with warm iron-red, apricot, and delicate pastel accents, interspersed with numerous butterflies in varied scale and coloration, some detailed with black-and-white striping and others heightened with polychrome spotting and banding. A narrow gilt band at the rim frames the composition, while the interior concentrates the floral canopy around the upper register, allowing the butterflies to appear to “drift” toward the center in a spacious, floating arrangement that reads as both decorative and atmospheric under light. The underside bears a red-and-gilt square label with kanji that reads Kyoto (京都), Nishiki (錦), Kōei (光栄), and “Yamada seizo” (山田製造), which translates as “made by Yamada,” indicating Kyoto origin and suggesting production or branding associated with a Yamada workshop or firm; this type of applied mark is often encountered on high-quality Kyoto-decorated wares made for the domestic and export markets in the late 19th to early 20th century.

Measurements: 8" h x 16.5" w x 16.5" d. See less