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Subject:Re: Ko Kutani / Revival Yoshidaya ?
Posted By: Bill H Fri, Apr 13, 2018
Here a link to a period book which provides a sense for Japanese participation in the Paris exposition of 1878. Its a pdf, which can be searched to pick out mentions of "Japanese".
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25100773.pdf
It seems reasonable to assume that your charger was sold at the 1878 Paris show, though I would speculate the ormolu mounts were installed later by the French owner, as the French were known to favor adding such embellishments. This mount doesn't particularly appear to be Japanese either.
The 1882 James Lord Bowes book on "Japanese Marks & Seals in Literature and the Arts" shows a number of fuku marks, including one numbered 179 in the Kaga (Kutani) section, beneath which he comments "Painted in black, upon a panel of green, on old [i.e., pre-1868] ware. Fuku-Happiness. This character is also frequently used upon modern [i.e., post-1868] imitations of the old green and yellow ware."
Based on the comment by Lord Bowes, I'd think it probably would be a toss-up as to whether your plate is late Edo or Meiji. Also, some comments in the book at the link suggest to me that the author thought the Meiji exhibitors and artists were making a concerted effort, in effect, to show off their stuff using new approaches and materials of the time. Anyway, read it and see if you get the same impression.
Best regards,
Bill H.
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