This Meiji period vase is made of fine white porcelain fashioned after classic Chinese pieces from the Song Dynasty. The potter, first generation Miura Chikusen, is the same generation as many of the better known Imperial Court artists (Kozan, Siefu, Tozan, etc…) and just as accomplished in terms of mastery of technique, level of artistic expression, and volume of pieces produced. 

A masterpiece by one of the premier Literati painters from the Edo period. Born into a wealthy samurai family, At a young age, Bunchō was given a stipend that enabled him to study painting and pursue a career in the arts. From the age of 10 he studied Kano painting under Kato Bunrei, then later when he was 19, took up an apprenticeship in the Nanpin School of painting under Gentai Watanabe. An artist with an eclectic taste, he went on to master many styles of Chinese, Japanese, and Western painting.

In the world of Japanese ceramics, Tamamizu-ware has an almost mythical standing. A branch of the main Raku line, at one time the two kilns held equal prominence, both being endorsed by the major tea schools of Kyoto and both being favored by the Imperial household. The first in the line was an illegitimate son of Kichizaemon Ichinyu (Yahē) who studied under his father and then left to open his own kiln in the village of Tamamizu (known today as Ide-cho). Though he is the first potter of the Tamamizu branch, he is usually referred to as Tamamizu VI (denoting his descendance from the Raku line). After establishing the kiln, Yahē took the artist’s name “Ichigen” and proceeded to fashion extremely high-quality tea bowls and other implements in the style of the earliest Raku potters.

Sumi on silk. This delicate treatment of a dragonfly alighting on a chrysanthemum is the work of one of Japan’s most celebrated artists of the mid-Edo period. [Sold]