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We were out of town and doing the junk shop circuit when my wife became enamored of the Imari Vase below. We were told that it is Fukagawa circa 1860 and had a price that, with minimal dickering, was $875. I didn't measure it, but the vase is about 30 inches tall.

I apologize for the angle of the base shot, but I was holding a large, heavy, expensive vase with one hand and shooting with my iPhone with the other. Using "Japanese Art Signatures" I wouldn't agree that Fukagawa is among the characters on the base.

After searching on the web, I think we are being misled or the seller has incorrectly identified the vase. Your language skills and help are appreciated.

As this is not my area and the price is not cheap, I appreciate any comments you have to offer. I'll add a close-up or two once this appears.

Thanks and cheers,
Stan

When flipped 90 degrees left, the two characters on the right side of the mark look like 肥碟 (Hi-cho), while the left stack begins with what appears to be 山 (Zan), but in parentheses running top-to-bottom. If I'm seeing the kanji correctly, the first three characters might be a weird way of writing the name "Hichozan" (unless the "zan" in parentheses I think I see is just a malformed Fukagawa Koransha orchid logo). The mark then ends with the normal 製 (Sei - "Made").

If the whole thing indeed was meant to read down and across from the top right as "Made by Hichozan", then your dealer's attribution to Fukagawa would make sense. Hichozan was a name associated with various studio artists used by Fukagawa at the former Hirado kilns at Mikawachi, which site was taken over by Fukagawa circa the 1870's, during the Meiji period (1868-1912). This style of writing "Sei" has been used before in Fukagawa marks. I've also seen the several Hichozan marks with and without Fukagawa or their logo being included, but this present mark would be new to me, presuming there's any basis to my speculation here. gotheborg.com and the Louis Lawrence book on Hirado wares both mention Fukagawa and their Hichozan connection.

Good luck,

Bill H.

Bill,

Thanks for your analysis. I'll do more research. I've been avoiding learning about ceramics, but my/our interests seem to be spreading to other areas of Japanese art than woodblock prints.

Best,
Stan

Here's a few more pictures.

Cheers,
Stan

The enlargement of the mark makes the second character at the right look less like "cho", but it doesn't help me fathom what it might me, unless it's a poorly written "zen" as in "Hizen", or a poorly written ""Arita". I'm retiring to the peanut gallery on this one.

Bill H.

Although this appears to be not a name perse, it possibly is 肥薩 (hisatsu), a contraction of Hizen and Satsuma.
When I run the above with 製　on a Japanese search engine then the top result did mention Fukagawa porcelain.

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