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I have the attached impressive piece of Japanese porcelain. It measures 28"H, and it quite finely painted. There is a signature on the underside of the lid, but it appears one of the characters is rubbed off. Any assistance you can provide identifying the maker/artist would be greatly appreciated!
Adriane

Hello Adriane,

You have a handsome and potentially important piece of Japanese porcelain that should be evaluated further by a professional.

The gilt mark features a stylized 'fragrant orchid' (koran) centered over two stacks of three gilt kanji characters each. The stack on the right reads downward as 'ko-ran-sha' (Koran 'Society' or Company) and the left one as 'fuka-gawa-sei' (Made by Fukagawa).

This piece appears to date to the early years of the Koransha Company, which was founded in 1875 as an offshoot of the Fukagawa family porcelain business in the Arita area. Before it became a trademark per se, a gilt koran or fragrant orchid such as this was used as a mark on the highest quality wares made by Fukagawa including some made for imperial use.

Fukagawa and its Koransha branch had achieved supremacy in porcelain-making operations at the old imperial kilns of the Duke of Hirado at Mikawachi by the mid-19th century. Hirado wares with overglaze polychrome decoration and the gilt Koransha mark are illustrated in 'Hirado Prince of Porcelains' by Louis Lawrence, and I have no doubt that your piece, which may be a wine vessel, is from the Hirado kilns. As the Meiji period progressed, the fragrant orchid mark in overglaze red and later underglaze blue was used as the logo on more common export wares of the Koransha group.

Here for reference is another Koransha piece from around the fourth quarter of the 19th century with am overglaze Koransha mark in gilt and an overglaze red signature of Toshikian Kizo, the pseudonym of Takeji Fukami, a 19th century descendant of Korean potters who were captured and taken to Japan by the army of Daimyo Hideyoshi after an abortive invasion of China via Korea at the end of the 16th century. This libation cup, based on an ancient Chinese tripodal bronze form, has a larger counterpart in the same pattern in the Art Institute of Chicago. I wouldn't be surprised if your piece has a cousin resting in a museum somewhere itself.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Hello Adriane,

Looks very impressive indeed.
Above you see the orchidmark of Koransha. The right characters says Koransha and the left ones Fukagawa sei (as far as I can see). The Koransha company existed from 1875 till 1894 so you have a dating as well.

Regards,

Arjan

This mark, red-orange, is underglaze, inside a teacup, also pictured. Is this a "stylized" Koransha Kukagawa Orchid? Many thanks for your help in advance!

This design certainly looks like a Koransha mark, but could simply serve as a decorative orchid motif on the inside of the cup. What does the rest of the cup look like? Koransha and other Fukagawa decoration usually is fairly distinctive.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Thank you for your response. I have gone ahead and listed it on Ebay as "possibly" Fukagawa Koransha." Below is a link to that item where you may see both pieces. Only the cup has the "orchid" in it. I value your opinion.

The old saying goes,'All good things come to those who wait', and here in the forum, the twist on it is 'All good things come to those who give everybody a shot at the big picture.'

You don't have a Japanese cup & saucer. It's clearly late 18th century Chinese export porcelain in a famille rose design like the one in the picture below with a floral swag motif. The flourish in the bottom of the cup may or may not be an orchid. In this cup, where it is less worn, it looks a bit like a stylized character, perhaps "Guang" (光 - bright).

Good luck,

Bill H.

Do web search for Koransha and Fukagawa companies, marks. Marks have been reproduced. Much information is available about these factories, which produced massive amounts of tablewares. One should be cautious about attribution on basis of overglaze mark rather than underglaze.

Good luck,
Cal

I would like to add a little more about Koransha vase by Fukagawa.
This vase, Kinrande Imari vase by Fukagawa, was made during (1876-1879) when Koransha was run by five members of Fukagawa Eizaemon, Fukaumi Suminosuke & his brother Takeji, Tsuji Katsuzo and Tezuka Kemanesuke.
Fukagawa Eizaemon (1833-1889) was a main renovator and pillar of the Meiji Arita porcelain industry with his keen sense of business of Capitalism. Just think, not too many years ago, samurai with swords were bossing around crafts and merchants class threatening to chop their heads off if not obeying their rules.
The vase here was possibly made for export during the time of 1876 Philadelphia Expo, each members of Koransha Company marked their own name attached with Koransha orchid mark.
Fukagawa porcelain of this era, with a blank body made in the Mikawachi kiln, and decorated by Arita akae painters, is truly exquisite in every way to impress Americans, a combination of traditional modest beauty and a new gained freedom of impressionism.
Best Luck,
Emiko

Many thanks for all of your help!
Adriane

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