An unusual and rare Arita ewer of Middle Eastern inspiration


Edo period (1615-1868), late 17th centuryThe ovoid body moulded and painted in blue, iron-red and enamels with two lobed panels, each enclosing sprays of blooming peonies reserved on foliate scrolls, the cylindrical neck with a galleried rim moulded and decorated with hanging jewels rising from a petal moulded shoulder, the loop handle and curved spout with curved tendrils and foliate scrolls; with a wood storage box. 29.8cm (11¾in) high. (2).
|A very similar ewer decorated in Kakiemon enamels was sold at Sotheby's London, 23 November 1990, lot 493. Another is illustrated in Hayashiya Seizo, Nihon no toji (Ceramics of Japan), Tokyo, Chuokoronsha, 1989, vol.9, no.65. Other similar ewers in a predominantly green palette are illustrated in Hayashiya Seizo, ibid, no.64; Imaizumi Motosuke, Genshoku Nihon no meito: Ko-Imari to Kakiemon (Fine Ceramics of Japan in Colour: Ko-Imari and Kakiemon), Tokyo, Yuzankaku, 1970, p.129, pl.56; Zaidanhojin Toguri Bijutsukan shozo senshu: Seireki nisennen kinen zuroku (Masterpieces from the Toguri Museum of Arts: Catalogue Commemorating the Year 2000), Tokyo, Toguri Museum of Art, 2000, p.72, pl.96.