The Key to Authenticating Satsuma

Q I picked this up at an area Goodwill retailer due to its element. It’s so intricate that I’m nearly optimistic that it’s an export piece. The identical image is on either side, and it stands 13-3/4 inches tall. Any data is welcome.

— B.C., through e-mail

A Let’s speak Satsuma.

Most individuals are conversant in late Satsuma or nishikide. It’s a distinctive Japanese pottery from the Meiji interval (1868 to 1912). The ceramic instance has a heat cream, ivory-to-beige background with a crackled glaze. It bears over-glazed designs in orange, inexperienced, blue, purple, or gold ornament. One of many extra distinctive options of this Satsuma is the crackled glaze and the general painted ornament. That factor is definitely palpable and sometimes accomplished in a way often called moriage.

A Goodwill retailer “Satsuma” buy.

Moriage, a Japanese phrase that interprets as “heap up,” is a trailed-slip ornament initially used to point the gilt beading seen on Japanese pottery; nonetheless, the time period has additionally change into broadly utilized in describing the matte, slip-layered, heavy reduction designs seen in Japanese ceramics particularly recognized with the model often called Dragon Ware, the place slip is layered in a heavy reduction design of trailing dragons. Nevertheless, there are exceptions to this generalized description of a creamy, crackle-glazed, polychrome enamel-painted pottery. These of you conversant in my articles and value determinations know there are often one or two or extra “nonetheless” {qualifications}. One true and sure reality about antiques is there are at all times guidelines, and there are at all times exceptions to these guidelines.

The Key to Authenticating Is a Lack of English Marks

Now that I’ve deposited the above description of Satsuma in your mind’s Vintage Info Financial institution, I’m including a codicil of types. The origins of Satsuma lie within the seventeenth century. Early Satsuma was sparingly embellished with giant unpainted cartouches and is available in a wide range of colours, together with white and black, together with a variety of glazes, together with blue/grey and a mix of yellow, black, and blue with over- and under-glaze decorations.

Real Satsuma is native to Japan and by no means anyplace else, together with China. Real Satsuma by no means has English writing on it; no “Made in…,” no “Hand-Painted,” no “Real…,” and no “Satsuma” something.

Satsuma vase, circa 1820.

Photograph by High quality Artwork Photos/Heritage Photos/Getty Photos

Real Satsuma is hand-painted with Japanese pictures. Chinese language figures don’t seem on real Satsuma, and it’s marked in Japanese. Not all Satsuma marks are the identical. I’m conversant in a minimum of ten, however I’m certain there are extra. Satsuma often has the artist’s signature together with the Satsuma mark. Regardless of the Satsuma mark used, many Satsuma items embrace the Shimazu clan mark, a purple, hand-painted circle with a cross inside (just like the crosshairs in a gunsight).

Within the clip above, a chunk of Japanese Satsuma pottery, crafted by Kinkozan in 1853, was handed down by the generations of a household. The extraordinary piece is acknowledged for its crackled glaze, hand-painted gold dots, and pristine situation.

When you do have a chunk that you just suspect is real Satsuma, there are numerous on-line Satsuma assets that may show you how to determine the mark. Among the best is Gotheborg.com. There are additionally a number of good reference books, corresponding to Imari, Satsuma, and Different Japanese Export Ceramics, by Nancy N. Schiffer.

English marking on Japanese pottery is a post-WWII attribute. Items bearing the mark in your vase, “Royal Satsuma,” date to the late twentieth to early twenty-first century when “Royal Satsuma” was mass-produced. A pair of vases akin to yours just lately bought for round $75, and a twenty-three-inch Royal Satsuma flooring vase bought in the identical vary. I might place a worth of $30 to $40 in your vase.

Dr. Anthony J. Cavo is an honors graduate of the Asheford Institute of Antiques and Reisch Faculty of Auctioneering. He has in depth expertise shopping for and promoting antiques and collectibles and is the creator of Love Immortal: Vintage Pictures and Tales of Canines and Their Folks.