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Re: Satsuma koro

Posted By: Bill H
Posted Date: Aug 12, 2012 (02:11 PM)

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Though I'll gladly yield on this topic to anyone with a claim to more hands-on knowledge of Japanese than I've picked up, it is my observation that numbers with no other apparent purpose like this on both Japanese and Chinese ceramics usually have been applied at the factory for quality control purposes. Most often in the case of censers, a number like this seems to designate the size of the upper rim to accommodate selection of a cover in the correct size. If your cover and rim are about 12 cms in diameter, it might bode well for this assumption being correct.

The 1882 James Lord Bowes book on Japanese marks and seals had one example of a Satsuma marking with a number. This one was an alphanumeric designation of a piece as I-5, with 'I' being the first character in the Japanese (phonetic I presume) alphabet. In this case the character for '5' was followed by the character meaning 'number'. Since this is not the case with your mark, I assume it is does not indicate a numbered piece, per se.

'Zo' means 'Made' or 'Made by' in the context of a mark like this.

Best regards,

Bill H.

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