Tall Japanese Sumida River Vase by Inoue Ryōsai, 1890s

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A hand-thrown Japanese Sumida Gawa (Sumida-yaki) vase by Inoue Ryōsai, of unusually tall and slender form, dating to the late … Read more A hand-thrown Japanese Sumida Gawa (Sumida-yaki) vase by Inoue Ryōsai, of unusually tall and slender form, dating to the late Meiji–Taishō period, circa 1900–1920. The low-fired red earthenware body is thrown with visible horizontal ribbing, rising from a recessed base as a tall column that swells to a rounded shoulder and waisted neck, terminating in an everted, irregularly lobed rolled mouth.

The neck and shoulder are sheathed in a lustrous aubergine-black flambé glaze shot with purple, lilac and cream, pooling and dripping in heavy runs down over a matte iron-red slip ground in the manner of Chinese Shiwan (Shekwan) wares; the red ground retains the warm, slightly mottled tone characteristic of the studio.

Applied and modelled in high relief to the front is a group of figures clambering over dark applied rockwork — a bald, ochre-robed elder reaching upward, a second figure below in a pale robe with underglaze-blue detailing, and a further green-robed figure to the side — interspersed with white ovoid eggs and a draped white cloth. The lower body bears an applied ovoid white porcelain cartouche painted in underglaze blue, signed Ryōsai (良斎) and attributed to Inoue Ryōsai.

The vase stands 30.7 cm high — an unusually tall example of the form — and measures 13 cm in width and 11.5 cm in depth, weighing 1110 g. This piece has an attribution mark,
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