Hanaike. Japanese flower vases. Owari, Japan.

OWARI PORZELLAN.

Hanaike. Japanese flower vases. Owari, Japan.

by George Ashdown Audsley.

757 and 758. Pair of flower vases (hanaike), of porcelain, decorated in enamel colours and gold with borders of diaper and other conventional ornamentation, and with the figures of two of the most celebrated poetesses of ancient times. The figure upon No. 757 is that of Onono Komachi, who lived in the ninth century and was considered the most beautiful woman of her time; she is shown here attired in flowing robes of great splendour, walking under a sakura tree. On the other vase, Murasaki Shikibu, authoress of the Genji Monogatan, is shown seated with her brush in her hand beside a writing table.

The colours employed are of the bright and often garish character which are so much used by Tokio painters, and the dusted gold, which they also affect, is freely introduced. All the decoration is over the glaze.

Painted upon No. 757, the characters within the border in blue under the glaze:
NIP-PON, SE-TO, KA-TO KISHI-TA-RO KORE O SEISU. Kato Kishitaro, Seto, Japan, makes this. The inscription at the side, added in black, reads: O-NO-NO KOMACHI NO DZU. A portrait of Onono Komachi.

Painted upon the side of the vases in black and red:
TO-KIO, O-KA-WA ICHI-RAKU YEGAKU. Painted by Okawa Ichiraku, Tokio. The lower character is the mark of the painter.

The marks upon No. 758 are the same, excepting the substitution of the name of the character depicted: MURASAKI SHIKIBU NO DZU.

From the London Exhibition of 1874. Illustrated in Keramic Art of Japan, folio. Plate XLVI. Height 12 in.

Source: Keramic art of Japan by George Ashdown Audsley (1838-1925); Lord James Bowes (1834-1899). London : H. Sotheran & co. 1881.