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Subject:Re: Need help with mark on bowl
Posted By: Bill H Sun, Mar 22, 2020
This apparently is a Japanese bowl and probably is of the contemporary period. My grounding is in Chinese, with a limited ability to transliterate Japanese. However, online information suggests the characters on the base (水月) are read together as "Suigetsu", meaning "the moon reflected on water". This is evocative of a Chinese saying or chengyu, "Jinghua Shuiyue" (镜花水月), which probably is known in Japan as well, literally "flowers in the mirror and the moon reflected in water". However, the idiomatic meaning is "something of beauty but illusory and unattainable". Further, "水月" can mean "purity"in Chinese.
I found mention online of "Suigetsu Yaki" a type of pottery made in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture on the Island of Shikoku. This kiln was started in the Meiji era by Tsunekata Yoshikawa. However, your bowl looks to be porcelain, of which I found examples of a pair of differently decorated bowls with the "Suigetsu Yaki" mark selling online in Taiwan for NT$160 (US$5.29) at the below website:
https://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21931267925085
"Suigetsu" turned up as a Japanese restaurant name too, leaving open the possibility your bowl might be custom made and marked porcelain used by one. The characters can be personal names as well. but under different transliterations.
Best regards,
Bill H.
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