A Fine 17th Century Kakiemon Porcelain Flower Shaped Bowl c.1670 – 1700.

A fine 17th century Japanese Kakiemon Nigoshide porcelain bowl of flower shape. Delicately painted with a wickerwork beehive suspended from an old willow tree with a bee on the left hand side of the asymmetrical design.

SOLD

Condition
In excellent condition, minor wear to the enamels.
Size
Diameter - 12.9 cm (5 1/8 inches) Height - 5 cm (2 inches)
Provenance
From a Private English Collection of Japanese and Chinese Porcelain.
Stock number
25268

Photos

Information

 

A Pair of A Fine 17th century Japanese Kakiemon Nigoshide Porcelain Bowls.

These Kakakiemon Porcelain Bowls were Purchased from the Same Private Collection.

Stock Numbers 25267 and 25268.

We have  previously sold a Kakiemon Bowl of this design and form that came from the same collection.

Pair of Fine 17th century Japanese Kakiemon Nigoshide Porcelain bowls.

 

 

Kakiemon Porcelain :
Kakiemon decoration is usually of high quality, often delicate and with well-balanced asymmetric designs. The designs were normally quite sparse emphasizing the fine white porcelain body known in Japan as Nigoshide (milky white). The opaque white milky Nigoshide body was used on the finest pieces, it appears that it was reserved for fine quality enamelled decoration. Kakiemon porcelain was decorated with a great variety of imaginative designs which include elements such as the `banded hedge`, `flying squirrel`, and the `Quail and Millet` design. The `Three Friends of Winter` were also a very popular group of designs, other subject taken from nature include flowers (especially the chrysanthemum, the national flower of Japan) as well as birds and rock-work. Figural subjects such as the `Hob in the Well` were also popular. This design illustrates a Chinese folk tale where a sage saves his friend who has fallen into a large fish-bowl by throwing stones at it, braking open the pot. Banded-Hedges were a formal device within Japanese traditional gardens, they were often incorporated in designs, includes `The Three Friends of Winter` (Pine, Bamboo and Prunus). These three plants signify perseverance, as neither the pine nor the bamboo shed their leaves in winter and the plumb (Prunus) flowers at the very end of the winter, heralding the arrival of spring.

Nigoshide Body :
The Nigoshide (milky white) body was a new whiter porcelain body introduced between about 1660 – 1680, solely for use on Kakiemon Wares. Indeed the Kakiemon Palette evolved at the same time. It has recently been proposed that the Nigoshide Body is not a new body at all, rather it is just made from a clay that has been levigated and washed more thoroughly.