13th Jun, 2025 10:00
Fine Japanese Art
199
KINKOZAN: A FINE SATSUMA EARTHENWARE VASE
Sold for €4,940
including Buyer's Premium
By the Kinkozan workshop, signed Kinkozan zo
Japan, Kyoto, late 19th century, Meiji period (1868-1912)
The slender baluster body supported on a short foot, gently tapering towards the elegantly scalloped shoulder dividing the upper part of the body into six lobes, and rising to a short waisted neck with an everted rim. Superbly decorated in gilt and bright enamels with a variety of overlapping reserves depicting a rooster and a chicken with their offspring, a group of courtiers crowded at the entrance to a temple, and a richly garbed lady working on a floral arrangement, with further reserves imitating byobu screens with views of temples alongside towering mountains, each framed in gilt with key-fret and chevron bands, and interspersed with vivid floral brocade patterns and paulownia seals (kiri mon), all above a chevron-bordered band with oblong cartouches enclosing precious objects and fluttering butterflies against a brocade-patterned ground, the lower body with a broad band of iris flowers and large blades of grass above a narrower band of ume blossoms against a karakusa ground.
The upper body with a continuous scene of a procession of children during the Shichi-Go-San, topped by additional reserves depicting a school of diverse fish, coastal landscapes, and rural constructions among blossoming trees. The shoulder of the vessel exquisitely decorated in gilt with azalea blossoms on a dense stippled ground and finished with key-fret and a brocade band around the neck. Signed to the base KINKOZAN zo [made by Kinkozan] and with an identical impressed mark.
HEIGHT 30.8 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and firing irregularities, some expected tiny losses and rubbing to gilding.
Provenance: From a private collection in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, collected c. 1950s-1970s. Thence by descent from the above.
The Kinkozan workshop was one of the most successful producers of so-called ‘Kyo-Satsuma’ (Kyoto Satsuma) wares. Like their equivalents from Osaka, Yokohama, and Tokyo, these pieces were Kyoto’s response to the Western demand for delicately painted Japanese pottery. The exhibits at the 1867 Paris Expo fascinated the West and a great admiration for Japanese cultures known as Japonisme led to a stark increase in Kyo-Satsuma ware exports.
Auction comparison:
Compare a closely related satsuma vase, signed Kinkozan, dated to the late 19th century. Meiji period, 19.7 cm high, at Christie’s, The Avo Krikorian Collection. Innovation and Inspiration of Meiji Period Design, 19 February 2007, Geneva, lot 20 (sold for CHF 18,000 or approx. EUR 21,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).
By the Kinkozan workshop, signed Kinkozan zo
Japan, Kyoto, late 19th century, Meiji period (1868-1912)
The slender baluster body supported on a short foot, gently tapering towards the elegantly scalloped shoulder dividing the upper part of the body into six lobes, and rising to a short waisted neck with an everted rim. Superbly decorated in gilt and bright enamels with a variety of overlapping reserves depicting a rooster and a chicken with their offspring, a group of courtiers crowded at the entrance to a temple, and a richly garbed lady working on a floral arrangement, with further reserves imitating byobu screens with views of temples alongside towering mountains, each framed in gilt with key-fret and chevron bands, and interspersed with vivid floral brocade patterns and paulownia seals (kiri mon), all above a chevron-bordered band with oblong cartouches enclosing precious objects and fluttering butterflies against a brocade-patterned ground, the lower body with a broad band of iris flowers and large blades of grass above a narrower band of ume blossoms against a karakusa ground.
The upper body with a continuous scene of a procession of children during the Shichi-Go-San, topped by additional reserves depicting a school of diverse fish, coastal landscapes, and rural constructions among blossoming trees. The shoulder of the vessel exquisitely decorated in gilt with azalea blossoms on a dense stippled ground and finished with key-fret and a brocade band around the neck. Signed to the base KINKOZAN zo [made by Kinkozan] and with an identical impressed mark.
HEIGHT 30.8 cm
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and firing irregularities, some expected tiny losses and rubbing to gilding.
Provenance: From a private collection in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, collected c. 1950s-1970s. Thence by descent from the above.
The Kinkozan workshop was one of the most successful producers of so-called ‘Kyo-Satsuma’ (Kyoto Satsuma) wares. Like their equivalents from Osaka, Yokohama, and Tokyo, these pieces were Kyoto’s response to the Western demand for delicately painted Japanese pottery. The exhibits at the 1867 Paris Expo fascinated the West and a great admiration for Japanese cultures known as Japonisme led to a stark increase in Kyo-Satsuma ware exports.
Auction comparison:
Compare a closely related satsuma vase, signed Kinkozan, dated to the late 19th century. Meiji period, 19.7 cm high, at Christie’s, The Avo Krikorian Collection. Innovation and Inspiration of Meiji Period Design, 19 February 2007, Geneva, lot 20 (sold for CHF 18,000 or approx. EUR 21,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).
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