Antique 19C Edo Period Arita Japanese Porcelain Polychrome Bowl Qilin Rabbit

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Condition Report: As good as perfect, just some crackle glaze lines to inside foot. 173x106mm DiameterxHeight

Sharing with you this amazing Japanese Arita ware bowl, likely dating to the late Edo period. The bowl has a polychrome scene of leaves on the outside and the inside with various scenes of hares/rabbits, Qilin/Foo Lion, Leaves, Flowers and objects.

The mark reads by Toshikian Kisabu (年木庵喜三製), although in modern Japanese it would be read Toshikian Kizo and some early English sources read it as Toshikian Kiso. This is the mark of the Fukaumi family. The brothers Fukaumi Suminosuke and Fukaumi Takeji were two of the original founders of Koransha in 1875, but both left in 1879 to join two others in founding Seiji Kaisha. The Kyushu Ceramics Museum dates this version of the mark to the 1840s – 1860s and Fukaumi Heizaemon who lived 1806 to 1871 and was the father of Suminosuke and Takeji.

The basis for dating to Heizaemon vs his sons is the use of the reisho (隷書) style mark but the evidence is limited. In any case, it would date to before the founding of Koransha in 1875. This kiln was an early innovator of glazes and was known for its development of the underglaze purple found on this bowl. The attached mark comparison in the pictures is from the James Lord Bowes book published in 1882.

All info above with thanks to a fellow collector.

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