Pair of Porcelain Vases with Skeletons in Relief, Signed, Japan Era Meiji/Taisho

A Monumental Japanese Kutani porcelain vase, Meiji/Taisho Period, Signed Akiyama sei. The main body is all hand-painted with wonderful ...

A very beautiful pair of polychromed Kutani porcelain Japanese vases, circa early 20th century, Meiji period, Japan. Vases are hand painted and designed with two different sides; one...

This splendid pair of large 20" tall jars presents a lyrical garden scene hand-painted in underglaze cobalt blue on creamy white porcelain. Each jar features a songbird perched amid ...

A Japanese porcelain vase, unusual in shape and with beautiful relief application of grapes and leaves. Painted scene all over of flowers and a bird in flight. Swirled top in the sh...

A Pair of 19th century Japanese Kutani Porcelain baluster Vases with Nishikigoi (koi) Motif. Each of baluster form with a flared ruffled mouth, beautifully decorated with red coy fis...

Pair of Kutani porcelain bottle vases, circa 1860-80, Japanese. Well decorated with pair of birds flying through a landscape surround. Note the group of butterflies around the neck. ...

This delicately hand-painted Meiji-period Kutani-ware bowl is ornamented with lion-shaped handles on the bowl and lid, and is decorated in orange and gold with panels depicting floral arrangements, surrounded by scrolling borders. On the base is the "Dai Nippon...

Pair of Japanese Imari Porcelain Bowls, Meiji Period, circa 1900 A fine pair of Japanese Imari porcelain bowls dating to the Meiji period, circa 1900. Each of fluted circular form w...

Set of 8 early 20th century Japanese imari porcelain salad / dinner plates with scalloped edges, hand painted with fan-like panels of landscapes and flowers, surrounded with designs ...

A fine pair of antique Japanese Imari porcelains demitasse coffee or tea cups & saucers. In the 'Black Ship' pattern. Decorated throughout with painted depictions of Western sailors and their ships in reds, blues, and greens with extensive gilt accents throughout. The centers of the cups and saucers each have a stylized gilt kanji for longevity (寿). The bases of both cups & saucers have apocryphal Chinese reign marks for the Ming Dynasty of the Chenghua period (太明成化年製). Black Ships (黒船, kurofune) was a name used for Western sea vessels arriving in Japan from the 16th - 19th Century. The name originated from the very first Portuguese vessels to trade with the Japanese ca. 1543 had hulls painted black. When the expedition of Matthew Commodore Perry in 1853 forcibly ended Japan's self-imposed isolationist sakoku (鎖国, lit. "locked country") period, his steam-powered warships inspired fear in the Japanese populace with their coal fueled black smoke. Subsequently, the Black Ships became symbolic of the end of Japan's isolationist period. Simply a wonderful set of antique Arita...