Rare Pair of Pottery Kitsunes of Inari Okami Shrine Meiji Period

A pair of porcelain vases in classic form, decorated with underglaze blue and copper red painting by Imperial potter Makuzu Kozan. Also known as Miyagawa Kozan (1842–1916), Makuzu was one of the most established and collected ceramist known to the west from Meiji Period. The vases are in a classic Chinese form called "Bang Chu Ping" (grain-mallet vase...

A stoneware shrine model with a figurine made in Ming dynasty (15th-17th century) in China and used as funeral burial objects. It is not known whether the two objects were originally associated, but they display similar glaze and oxidation and were in the same collection. The stoneware building is an architectural rendering of a typical ancestor shrine used at the time. It features a single room behind an elaborate front with double doors, under a multiple layered eaves. There are great architectural and decorative details throughout. The green glaze shows a wonderful silvery oxidation, an indication that the piece was buried in the ground. The side appears to be glazed lightly originally and some scrape marks and oxidized glaze residues remains. The back is unglazed. The figure is a typical tomb figurine...

On offer is a rare ceramic bowl with overglazed design by the famed Japanese ceramic artist Makuzu Kozan (1842-1916), circa 1906-1916. The bowl is rather unusual from the potter's repertoire with its unique glaze colors and decoration, and it likely belonged to a small series that Kozan made in and after 1906. A bowl of similar glaze and nearly identical dragon motif was recorded as a diplomatic present to the British royalty Arthur Connaught (1883-1932) when he represented King Gorge V in Japan in 1906. Other pieces, such as this bowl, were likely made with similar materials and designs afterwards. Essentially round in form, the bowl has a generous volume with six harmonious lobes. The bottom of the interior showcases a coiled dragon in red, green and gold slithering on a cobalt blue background. The roundel shares an echoing lobed perimeter, which is further outlined by red and turquois bands and rising sun design. The exterior of the bowl features six stylized Japanese camellias...

A Chinese stoneware day bed model circa Ming dynasty (15th-17th century). The miniature models were traditionally made as burial offering objects. Pottery models of daily life necess...