Object Description
An attractive bulbous form vase dating from the reign of Emperor Meiji (1868 – 1912). Two large panels depict pheasants under a cherry tree and on the reverse songbirds among Wisteria.
The panels sit on an uncommon white eggshell ground.
Condition: Excellent
Signed: Itozan (Sozan) also with an impressed Kinkozan mark to the base.
Sozan was the principal artist at the Kinkozan workshop in Kyoto. Like many artists of the time his birth and death dates are not recorded, but he left behind many impressive works.
We know he was active during the Meiji Period (1868-1912), as Herbert Ponting a documentary photographer visited the Kinkozan workshops in 1904 and wrote it in his book ‘In Lotus Land Japan’ he described the scene ‘…these artists work in little houses in the garden, where weeks and somethings months are spent on the embellishment of a single vase.’
Kinkozan owned a huge complex, and within this, small pavilions were placed in a tranquil garden, these were reserved for only the finest artists, giving them space to create their finest works. There are relatively few artists deemed skilled enough to be allowed to sign their own name on the Kinkozan works: Sozan was one of these and many of his works would have been destined for exhibitions and exclusive clients worldwide. This vase is very likely to have been created for this purpose, the very deep blue glaze is expensive and difficult to create as more pigment is needed to achieve a flawless mirror like finish.