Marks On Ceramics From Japan

In 1890 the United States government passed a law requiring the country of origin to be written on all imports to the United States. Nippon, the Japanese word for Japan, was added to many pieces beginning in 1891. In 1921 the United States required the English word Japan; the words Made in Japan were often […]

Satsuma, A Province and A Pattern

In England, the word Satsuma means pottery or porcelain made in the Satsuma area. In the United States, it usually means a very special type of crackle-glazed ware with an identifiable decoration of flowers or figures. Pottery was made in the Satsuma province from the beginning of the seventeenth century. Korean potters were brought to […]

Moriage and Other Decorations

In about 1900, moriage became a popular decoration on Japanese ceramics. A white clay mixed to the consistency of toothpaste was trailed on the body of a piece to form a raised decoration. Then other colors could be added. Another form of decoration was coralene beading. Dots of enamel color were added over and over […]

Sumida, A River

Sumida is a Japanese pottery made from about 1870 to 1941 in the area of Tokyo near the Sumida River. Pieces are usually everyday objects including vases, jardinières, bowls, teapots, and decorative tiles. Most pieces have a very heavy orange-red, blue, brown, black, green, purple, or off-white glaze with raised three-dimensional figures as decorations. The […]

Sumida Gawa

The word “gawa” means river in Japanese. Sumida pottery was made near the Sumida River and has sometimes been referred to as Sumida Gawa pottery. However, pottery marked “Sumidagawa” is a low-fire raku ware. It was made near the Sumida River, but not by the same potters who made Sumida pottery.

Noritake

Today’s Noritake Company, originally named Nippon Toki Kaisha Ltd., was started in 1904 by the Morimura Brothers, who in 1876 had founded a company that exported Japanese products. They wanted to make porcelain dinnerware in designs and sizes that would appeal to the American market. Dishes made in Japan at the time were not the […]

Kutani, A Province

The kilns in the Kutani province worked first from about 1639 to the beginning of the 1700s. The porcelains made there at that time are called old Kutani (Ko Kutani). Green Kutani (Ao Kutani) is the most famous. The porcelain has a deep green glaze with designs of birds, flowers, and landscapes. Some pieces were […]

Banko, A Rustic Pottery

Banko is a rustic Japanese ware first made by eighteenth-century potter Numanami Gozaemon and revived in the middle of the nineteenth century. Most familiar are small, reddish brown stoneware teapots with decorative, animal-shaped knobs, and pots of glazed gray clay. True marbleized wares were made from a blending of several colors of clay. These pieces […]

Kakiemon, A Pattern

There is both Kakiemon porcelain and Kakiemon style, so any definition must explain the differences. The third kiln near Arita was that of the Sakaida family. It made a multicolor enamel-decorated porcelain ware with asymmetrical decorations. Red, blue, green blue, and yellow were favored, with some use of gold. Sakaida Kozoemon, who developed the colored […]

Imari, A Port and A Pattern

Arita export porcelain was shipped from Imari, a nearby port. The Dutch traders asked for an overall brocade design that would be popular throughout Europe. The resulting ceramic was a porcelain with a blue underglaze and iron red and gold decoration. Yellow, brown, green, and turquoise were used on some pieces. The design became so […]