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Hi, a collectors group tells me that this plate says ryukaku and below has a personal cipher that has not been identified. Can anyone ID the maker and provide a date? Thanks!!

Anyone? Anyone?

To me, it's a nicely done piece, and the signature is a work of art in itself. I figured that whoever did this quality of work would be known. Is there a good source for signatures on Satsuma?

Thanks. :)

The characters in the mark are 龍閣 / 龙阁 / 竜閣 (in standard / simplified / Japanese variant forms). On your plate, they could be a personal or studio name or literally mean "Dragon Chamber" or "Dragon Pavilion". They appear in one form or another as elements in common names in China and Japan.

It is my understanding that the design following the name is essentially a logo of the maker and not intended to be translated any more than the "Swoosh" on a pair of Nike shoes.

The only website with a decent archive of Japanese marks of which I'm aware is gotheborg.com, and I found nothing there resembling this mark on their Satsuma list.

If you're not easily bored and have the time to devote to the project, you may wish to do character searches as long a you can stand it to see if any of them involve auctions or other sales of similar Satsuma-marked dishes.

Good luck,

Bill H.

It's a very nice piece signed in gold gilt 龍閣
(Ryûkaku), followed by a kakihan/kao (a personal mark used by Japanese artists or written seal to compare with a monogram) and preceeded by the crest of the Shimazu clan, refering to Satsuma.

I presume this is must be a quality Meiji era piece (ca 1875 to the 1880s I guess) depicting a three-clawed Japanese dragon ('tatsu' or 'ryû') but I found no further references for this maker (I searched for a combination of 'Ryûkaku' & 'Satsuma-yaki' in Japanese). So, the whole piece remains a bit of a mystery to me. Maybe, experts of Japanese porcelain know more.

Guy.

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