Recent Acquisitions

On this page you'll find my latest acquisitions.

This way you can quickly browse through my recently acquired objects without having to browse through all the various categories.

After some time, each object in 'Recent Acquisitions' will be moved to their specific category.

Latest update: Recent Acquisitions; December 10, 2025.

2012569

Japanese Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares 18th Century

Object 2012569

Spoon or leak tray

Japan

1700-1730

Height 20 mm (0.78 inch), dimensions 132 mm (5.20 inch) x 92 mm (3.62 inch), weight 104 grams (3.67 ounce (oz.))

Oval shaped spoon or leak tray with ribbed sides and a lobed rim on a smooth, unglazed base. Imari decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red and gold with a flower spray in a central reserve surrounded by irises, reeds and three zig-zag plank bridges (yatsuhashi).

A spoon or leak tray was used to protect the surface of luxurious lacquer or painted tea tables, against the influence of a hot teapot or drops running from its spout. If, in certain circles, a special tea table was not at hand it served to protect the furniture or its valuable tablecloth from tea spots. (Volker 1959) 

Japanese spoon or leak trays are rare and seem not to be recorded in literature. This example must have been part of a tea service, for the matching teapot and sugar bowl of this tea service, please see:

• Japanese Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares 18th Century - Page 2 - Object 2012325.

• Japanese Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares 18th Century - Page 2 - Object 2011578.

Condition: Perfect.

Reference:

Volker 1959

Price: Sold. 

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2012453

Japanese Kakiemon / Japanese Kakiemon-style wares - Japanese Kakiemon

Object 2012453

Bowl

Japan

Late 18th century

Height 59 mm (2.32 inch), diameter of rim 110 mm (4.33 inch), diameter of footring 40 mm or (1.57 inch), weight 121 grams (4.27 ounce (oz.)) 

Published: Japanese porcelain. A collector's guide to general aspects and decorative motifs, (P.L.W. Arts, De Tijdstroom, Lochem, 1983), p.63, Plate 36.

Bowl on footring, straight rim. Decorated in Kakiemon enamels with a bamboo tree with a flowering plant and a flowering prunus and pine growing from brushwood fences. 

(Both images are reproduced from: Japanese porcelain. A collector's guide to general aspects and decorative motifs, (P.L.W. Arts, De Tijdstroom, Lochem, 1983), p.63, Plate 36 copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by the publisher or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved)

The Three Friends of Winter (shôchikubai) are pine, Prunus mune and bamboo. Both pine and bamboo remain green throughout the winter, while the early blossoms of the Prunus mune are harbingers of spring. In China, the combination of the positive characteristics attributed to each motif represented the ideal character of the Confucian scholar. They became a subject in Japanese painting in the 15th century and are also found on Kakiemon porcelain. (Fitski 2011, p.154) 

In China, the blossoms of the Prunus mume (ume) symbolize purity and renewal, and occur very early on in Chinese painting, frequently in combination with pine and bamboo. In Japan, it primarily heralds the coming of spring and is also used in art and literature to evoke the feel of the cold of winter loosening its grip. The delicate scent of the blossoms also evokes memories of a love one for many poets. The incisively painted, angular branches of the Prunus mume are a very characteristic element of Kakiemon, mostly depicted with fine black lines and clear red blossoms against the white porcelain. The blossoms are sometimes blown up to almost chrysanthemum-like proportions, and it is mostly depicted in a fairly stylized manner. Bamboo (take) is evergreen, and pliable, yet very strong. It is quick to recover after a heavy snowfall or a storm. In Japan, these qualities have led to its representation of indomitability, and the posture that a wise person should adopt, particularly in times of adversity. On kakiemon, bamboo has this connotation primarily in combination with Prunus mune and pine. The pine tree (matsu), an evergreen capable of living to extreme old age, represents power, a long and happy life, and even immortality. On Kakiemon porcelain we see it depicted as an old, venerable tree, but also sometimes as a young shoot, in combination with the crane. The brushwood fence (shibagaki) is made of bundles of twigs tied together, it is frequently combined with a bamboo trellis, an enlarged branch of flowering tree peony, and a shishi. It is a motif that occurs frequently on Kakiemon, with or without these companions, and one which evidently appealed greatly to the European consumer, given the fact that it is often seen on European imitations of Kakiemon. (Fitski 2011, p.148, p.151, pp.153-154 & p.163)

Condition: Perfect.

References:

Arts 1983, Lochem 1983, Plate 36

Fitski 2011, p.148, p.151, pp.153-154 & p.163

Price: Sold.

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2012675

Japanese Imari 1690-1800

Object 2012675

Bottle

Japan

1700-1720

Height 235 mm (9.25 inch), diameter of belly 117 mm (4.61 inch), diameter of mouthrim 18 mm (0.71 inch), diameter of footring 57 mm (2.44 inch), weight 465 grams (16.40 ounce (oz.))

Pear-shaped bottle on footring, rounded body, tall narrow neck. Imari, decorated in underglaze blue, and overglaze green, aubergine and black enamel, iron-red and gold with around the foot a band of lappets. The body is divided into three panels by underglaze blue bands ornamented with gold scrolling and half chrysanthemums. The panels contain prunus, pine, and bamboo, their trunks growing from pierced rockwork. A meander pattern border between underglaze blue lines around the base of the neck. Round the neck an ascending leaf pattern border and round the rim three descending floral scrolls. The inside of the mouthrim in iron-red.

The layout of floral or other decoration in strongly marked cartouches is remotely reminiscent of the kraak. Sets of identical bottles or vases were probably an alternative to the expensive garnitures that were placed on top of porcelain cabinets in the Dutch interior. (Impey 2002, p.185 cat. 291), (Jörg 2003/1, p.99)

For similarly decorated bottles, please see;

• Japanese Export Porcelain. Catalogue of the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, (O. Impey, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2002), p.185, cat. 291.
• Early Japanese Porcelain: Arita Porcelain in the Dresden Collection, (F. Reichel, Londen 1981), cat. 56.
• Imari-Porzellan am Hofe der Kaiserin Maria Theresia, exhibition catalogue (Hetjens-Museum, Düsseldorf, 2000), p.60, cat. 26.

• Sold Ceramics - Sold Japanese Imari 1690-1800 - Other wares - Page 1 - Object 2012066.

Condition: Some tiny firing tension hairlines, due to the firing process, round the mouthrim.

References:

Reichel 1981, cat. 56

Düsseldorf 2000, cat. 26

Impey 2002, cat. 291

Jörg 2003/1, cat. 97

Price: Sold.

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2012650

Japanese Blue and White wares 17th Century

Object 2012650

Bottle

Japan

c.1690

Height 273 mm (10.75 inch), diameter belly 161 mm (6.34 inch), diameter of mouthrim 30 mm (1.18 inch), diameter of footring 91 mm (3.58 inch), weight 913 grams (32.21 ounce (oz.))

Pear-shaped bottle on footring, long neck, everted mouthrim. Decorated in underglaze blue with flowering peony plants growing from rockwork with a bird in flight alternating with a flowering prunus tree with a bird perched on a branch, in between grasses.

Even with such an all-over  decoration as here, bottles of this type nearly always have an empty border below the decoration. (Impey 2002, p.102)

For an identically shaped, sized and decorated bottle, please see:

• Japanese Export Porcelain. Catalogue of the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, (O. Impey, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2002), p.195, cat. 313.
• The collection of the Ashmolean Museum, please see; Object EA.1978.757.

Inside the bottle, unable to retrieve, is small rolled up piece of paper with old hand writting in dark ink.

Condition: Perfect.

References:

Impey 2002, cat. 111

The Ashmolean Museum, object EA.1978.765

Price: Sold.

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Japanese Early Overglaze Enamelled wares 1660-1680 & Japanese Blue and White wares 17th Century - Other wares

Objects 2012666 & 2012669

Two Jars

Japan

1660-1680

2012666 (Early enamelled jar) Height with cover 160 mm (6.30 inch), height without cover 137 mm (5.39 inch), diameter of mouthrim 71 mm (2.80 inch), diameter of footring 59 mm (2.32 inch), weight with cover 494 grams (17.43 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 37 grams (1.31 ounce (oz.))

2012669 (Underglaze blue jar) Height with cover 140 mm (5.51 inch), height without cover 111 mm (4.37 inch), diameter of mouthrim 61 mm (2.40 inch), diameter of footring 46 mm (1.81 inch), weight with cover 321 grams (11.32 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 67 grams (2.36 ounce (oz.))

Oviform jars on footring; short wide neck. The original lid on object 2012666 is missing and has been replaced by a 20th-century steel cover. Decorated in underglaze blue (2012669) and early enamels (2012666) with various flowering plants, birds a butterfly and a moth. Round the foot and neck and on the shoulder, decorative key-fret, cell-diaper and spearhead borders between underglaze blue lines.

Small jars of this shape and design are common. It is interesting to know how the flying bird and the large flowers still evoke the river scenes with waterfowl seen on Chinese kraak porcelain, while the bird sitting on a branch is related to the depiction on Kakiemon porcelain. (Jörg 2003/1, p.61, cat. 45)

Impey states that the pattern on this jar can only be found on jars of this shape on two sizes in enamels and is closely paralleled in blue-and-white jars of similar rounded shape. These type of covered jars seem to have come two sizes and and two varieties, one with and one without underglaze blue diving lines. According to Imey it was coloured jars of this type that form the category, the 'Dark polychrome group' suggested by Impey himself. (Impey 2002, p.64, cat. 48 & 49)

For identically shaped and decorated in early enamels jars with the dividing underglaze bue lines, please see:

• Eastern Ceramics and other works of art from the collection of Gerald Reitlinger, (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1981), p.82, cat 214.
• Japanese Porcelain, (S. Jenyns, Faber & Faber, London / Boston, 1979), cat. 32b.

For identically shaped and decorated in early enamels jars without the dividing underglaze bue lines, please see:

• Fine & Curious: Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (C.J.A. Jörg, Hotei publishing, Amsterdam, 2003), p.61, cat. 45.

For identically shaped and decorated in early enamels jars with Dutch Silver-gilt mounts with a Chinese cover, please see:

• Chinesisches und japanisches Porzellan in europäischen Fassungen, (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Verlag Klinkhardt & Biermann, Braunschweig,1980), p.415, Abb. 464.
• Porcelain for Palaces. The Fashion for Japan in Europe 1650-1750, (J. Ayers, O. Impey & J.V.G. Mallet, Oriental Ceramic Society & The British Museum, London 1990), p.122, cat. 80.
• Japanese Export Porcelain. Catalogue of the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, (O. Impey, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2002), p.67, fig. 49.

For identically shaped and decorated in underglaze blue, please see:

• Japans porselein met blauwe decoraties uit de tweede helft van de zeventiende en de eerste helft van de achttiende eeuw. (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer in Mededelingenblad Nederlandse Vereniging van Vrienden van de Ceramiek, vols. 64/65, 1971), pp.105-105, cat. 106a & 106b.

Conditions:

2012666: Perfect.

2012669: A frit and a firing flaw to the rim of the jar and a frit to the rim of the cover. 

References:

Lunsingh Scheurleer 1971, cat. 160a & 160b

Jenyns 1979, cat. 32b 

Lunsingh Scheurleer 1980, Abb. 464

Oxford 1981, cat. 214

Impey 2002, cat. 48 & 49

Jörg 2003/1, cat. 45

Price: Object 2012666 € 3.500 Currency Converter

Price: Object 2012669 € 1.500 Currency Converter

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