Archive for the ‘Oriental Antiques’ Category

FURNITURE: MID 19TH CENTURY CHINA

WOODWORKING AND cabinet-making
were advanced industries in the China of the late Qing dynasty (1644-1912). Although most authorities agree that the best Chinese furniture was made before the 19th century, traditional methods and forms persisted well into this period of greater communication and trade with the West.
A PERIOD OF DISTRESS
By the mid 19th century, China was home to British, American, Russian, Japanese, German,
Italian, and French colonies. Foreign influence in China was further extended when, in the aftermath of the first Opium War (1839-42), China was compelled to open five of its ports, including Canton and Shanghai, to foreign trade. This number was increased in 1860 following another Chinese military defeat. Far from being a welcome addition to the cultural diversity of China, these foreign incursions were resented
by the majority of the populace.
More pressing matters dominated political and social landscape during this period. China was beset with internal rebellion, fat-nine, and drought – a series of calamities that conspired to wipe out 60 million people in the course of the next 12 years.
Western powers were quick to help the Qing dynasty during these periods of crisis, yet their primary aim was always to open up Chinese markets to the West to improve Western economies. Consequently, Chinese Furniture of the mid 19th century; although predominantly based on Ming and early Qing ideals, bore the
stamp of Western influence to a greater extent than ever before.
A MIX OF OLD AND NEW
The last years of the Qing dynasty, though troubled, did produce some fine furniture. A deep reverence for the past kept the traditions and monumental forms of the early Qing period in production. Concurrent with this, there was a general softening of the strict rectilinearity that had previously characterized Chinese furniture. Rounded forms, such as spoon and horseshoe backs, began to proliferate, as did peculiarly European
shapes, such as the breakfront. Continuity came in the shape of plant stands, low tables, screens, and a variety of other forms that had been popular in China for many years.
Cabinet-makers continued to use lacquer to decorate a great deal of the furniture, although the quality Ming lacquer furniture was never surpassed. Three predominant styles of lacquer decoration date from this period. The most common were daqi, a thick lacquer coating applied to a paste undercoat, and ludqi, a thin wash painted directly on to the wood. Less
common and more elaborate was miaojin, which incorporated gold-coloured highlights on a ground of black and coloured lacquer.
Another traditional decorative element, the ceramic plaque, enjoyed something of a revival towards the close of the Qing period due to the work of porcelain masters, such as Liu Xiren, who worked in Jiangxi province.
ELABORATE DECORATION
The persistent admiration for Chinese furniture was due in no small part to the quality of the exotic woods
available to craftsmen. Hardwoods, particularly rosewood, were ideally suited to the profuse pierced and carved decoration practised by so many cabinet-makers. Huali, a type of rosewood, was found to fade to an attractive golden colour after prolonged exposure to light, and furniture with this hue became known as huanghuali during the late Qing period. Hard stones, either in the form of decorative inlays or inset marble table tops, appealed to the European taste and became staples of more ornate Chinese furniture of the period.
The export market was a prime source of commissions and revenue for many cabinet-makers, particularly those in the newly opened city ports, such as Shanghai. European markets demanded that this export furniture look as Oriental as possible, with the result that decoration that might be rejected as over-exuberant by the Chinese was carried out on some furniture purely to satisfy Western buyers. Intricately inlaid figural landscapes containing pavilions and other typically Chinese features are hallmarks of this new direction Liken by Chinese craftsmen in the second half of the 19th century.

INLAID LOW TABLE
This is one of a pair of rare horseshoe armchairs made of huanghuali, the Chinese name for rosewood. It has a U-shaped, bamboo form, a carved top rail, a cane seat, and a lattice splat. The top rail and legs have been carved to simulate the apperance of bamboo. S&K
HORSESHOE ARMCHAIR
This black-lacquered wooden low table of rectangular form is inlaid with mother-of-pearl and hard stones, depicting a rural scene. The image includes a pavilion and figures within a walled garden on a black ground. The table is supported on similarly decorated cabriole legs, terminating in paw feet.
ANGLO-CHINESE CENTRE TABLE
This Anglo-Chinese centre table is made from amboyna and ebony and has three drawers one long and two short – with dummy drawers at the back. It is raised on carved ebony
trestle supports, terminating in claw feet. The supports are joined by an ebony stretcher. Although it was made in 1840, the design of the table is closer in style to examples from about 1810. c.1840.
A cane seat is fitted into the rosewood seat frame.
The turned legs simulate the appearance of bamboo.
ANGLO-CHINESE SIDEBOARD
SPOON-BACK NURSING CHAIR
This Anglo-Chinese amboyna and ebony pedestal sideboard has a frieze containing two drawers. Each pedestal contains a cupboard door enclosing shelves, as well as a deep drawer for storing wine. Made in colonial style, the shape of the sideboard is Regency. c.1840.
This Burmese, carved hardwood nursing chair features ornate, pierced, carved decoration throughout. The shaped back has a deep, carved surround with bird and foliage motifs. The padded drop-in seat has a similarly carved seat rail and is supported on cabriole legs moulded as rampant lions. c.1900.
PLANT STANDS
These intricate plant stands arc, made of rosewood and have shaped tops with polished marble insets, The tops are supported on profusely carved frames and shaped legs, which are joined by stretchers and headed by mask motifs. The stands terminate in animal-paw feet. c.1900.
NEST OF TABLES
This set of four hardwood tables graduates in size, fitting one inside the next, making the tables easy to store when not in use. Each table has a tray top and a decorative pierced apron set above shaped legs, which are joined by similarly shaped stretchers.

INDIA
UNTIL THE 19TH CENTURY, artistic
depictions of domestic Indian interiors tended to portray very little furniture. A low, canopied bed, a small dressing table, and a chest were quite often the only pieces present in such images. The throne chair, a staple form in most world cultures, was a symbol of prestige and had more currency as a ceremonial object than as a piece of domestic furniture.
Even the wealthiest of the Indian elite had very sparsely furnished homes until the 19th century when they became influenced by European colonialists, whose opulent lifestyles they eagerly imitated.
A UNION OF TWO TRADITIONS The ease with which Indian wood workers turned their hands to producing furniture in European forms was astounding. Fanny Parks, a British traveller, published a journal in 1850 that included an account of how an Indian carpenter constructed a table from a model she had made from river mud.
The Dutch had encouraged Indian craftsmen to make furniture for export during the 17th century, establishing a tradition that was to flourish as the British consolidated their grip on the subcontinent. As more and more British citizens arrived in India,
demand for furniture that was similar to that which they had used at home increased steadily.
From the mid 19th century, a new style of furniture that came to be known as Anglo-Indian began to evolve. Indian cabinet-makers were quick to adopt British forms, such as the cabinet-on-stand, or the
armchair, but they transformed them into something entirely new through the application of decorative elements drawn from their own culture. The use of surface decoration was profuse – it is not uncommon for every available surface of a table to feature
elaborate openwork carving or intricately patterned inlays.
A WEALTH OF RESOURCES
The practitioners of the Anglo-Indian style had a huge creative resource available to them in the shape of India’s diverse and rich cultural heritage. Devotional carvings from sacred sites, such as the Buddhist monuments at Sanchi, were
incorporated into furniture design.
The great natural bounty of India had an equally important role to play. Although timber from the Far East was imported, the majority of Indian furniture was constructed from teak, rosewood, ebony and padouk, all of
which was harvested locally. Ivory was widely available and craftsmen used it frequently as an inlay material, carving it with intricate designs before applying dark shellac varnish to enhance the decoration. It was not unheard of for chairs and other smaller items to be hewn from solid ivory. Even elephant or rhinoceros feet were incorporated into some of the more outlandish furniture designs of the mid-19th century.
STYLES OF DECORATION
Cheaper alternatives to ivory-inlaid furniture were pieces decorated with penwork. Regional centres throughout India soon developed their own specialities. The town of Vizagapatam became famous for its wood and quillwork ornamental boxes, while Baharampur – notable as the flashpoint of the Indian Mutiny in 1857 – was renowned for the skill of its carvers. The care taken by Indian
craftsmen was most evident in the ornament of the furniture they created. By contrast, hidden areas, such as the tops of cabinet doors, would often be finished somewhat roughly and bear visible tool marks.
NLAID LOW TABLE
This is one of a pair of rare horseshoe armchairs made of huanghuali, the Chinese name for rosewood. It has a U-shaped, bamboo form, a carved top rail, a cane seat, and a lattice splat. The top rail and legs have been carved to simulate the, apperance of bamboo. S&K
This black-lacquered wooden low table of rectangular form is inlaid with mother-of-pearl and hard stones, depicting a rural scene. The image includes a pavilion and figures within a walled garden on a black ground. The table is supported on similarly decorated cabriole legs, terminating in paw feet.

Antique Mid 19th Century Japanese Furniture.

HAVING REMAINED almost completely
isolated from the rest of the world for several hundred years, Japan entered a period of momentous and unprecedented change in the mid 19th century, instigated by the Kurofune Raiho (visit of the black ships) in 1853. Commodore Perry’s American fleet effectively forced the Tokugawa government to reopen Japanese ports to international trade.
THE NEW ORDER
Japan had been a rigid feudal society, steeped in conservatism and slow to change. In 1868, after a short civil war, the last Shogun was overthrown and
the Meiji Emperor — Mutsuhito, who ruled from 1867 to 1912 — was restored, promising modernization. Japanese industries developed at an astounding rate, and her citizens began to turn their backs on many aspects of their traditional past and adopt Western attitudes and customs.
Changes were gradual at first. Although it became fashionable among the wealthy elite to add rooms with a Western theme to their houses, these were generally areas in which to
Six-panel silk and paper screen This screen is
decorated with a stylized landscape scene depicting wildlife – predominantly birds – in their natural habitat. c.1880.
DISPLAY CABINET-ON-STAND
This rosewood display cabinet is from the Meiji period (1867-1912). It has an elaborately carved pediment and stand, both featuring representations of birds and vegetation. The cabinet also has a number of inlaid gold lacquer
panels. Some of the panels slide open to reveal numerous interior shelves and compartments. The relief-carved ivory, bone, mother-of-pearl, and lacquerwork depict figural scenes, floral arrangements, and birds. The whole cabinet is of very fine quality. Late 19th century.
TWO-FOLD LACQUERED SCREEN
Consisting of two lacquer panels, this hinged screen from the Meiji period has carved rosewood and mahogany surrounds and a similarly carved rosewood and mahogany frame. The face of the screen is inlaid with
ivory and mother-of-pearl, and depicts an anthropomorphic battle of frogs, including a commander, infantry, standard-bearers, and trumpeters. The back of the screen is decorated with flowering cherry trees in togidashi (lacquerwork). Late 19th century.
entertain guests, rather than living spaces. Traditional Japanese furniture, rectilinear and plain, was the product of a culture in which people sat on the floor to eat and converse. Cabinets and tables therefore had very short legs. The case furniture in many houses was limited to a large chest for storing bedding, a smaller chest, and a stand for a mirror.
Modular living spaces were divided by a paper screen, typically consisting of two to six panels, and often decorated with paint or simple inlays of ceramic or wood. The joints in the lacquer frame were sometimes disguised with metal mounts. Lacquer was by far the
most common form of surface decoration — usually in black, though sometimes in red.
EXPORT FURNITURE
The greatest changes within the furniture industry were those that catered to the export market. The unsurpassed quality of Japaneselacquer was widely known in the West, and craftsmen began to construct cabinets and screens with gold lacquer grounds, elaborately inlaid with precious natural materials, including ivory and mother-of-pearl, to form designs with Japanese motifs such as dragons or Samurai. This kind of crowded
decoration was anathema to Japanese taste but very popular in the West, and business was brisk.
The export market also benefited from a renaissance among Japanese woodworkers. Although intarsia techniques had been widely understood in Japan for more re than 1,000 years, they had fallen into disuse owing to the preference for lacquered furniture. A process known as Ran Yosegi, or “random parquetry”, whereby mosaics of different woods were assembled to draw attention to their various textures and colours, established the Hakone region as the pre-eminent centre of intarsia work in Meiji Japan. Later,
craftsmen began to adapt Kimono designs for use on furniture, and the process became more refined as it was mechanized.
Japanese expertise in manipulating wood extended to the art of carving. Again, this was an alien concept to most Japanese and the bulk of carved furniture produced in Japan at
this time was sent to international exhibitions and sold abroad. Friezes and crests were carved with scenes adapted from shrines and temples. Traditional Japanese symbolic motifs, such as ripped leaves signifying autumn, delighted Western consumers and found a ready market.
The black-lacquered base
provides a perfect foil for the
silver panel scenes.
DECORATIVE IRON CASKET
The cover of this iron casket by Ryuunsai Yukiyasu is inset with a copper panel decorated in silver and gold relief with a basket of flowers and insects. The sides depict aquatic scenes, flowering trees, and Mount Fuji. The inner rim is ornamented with wisteria and grape vines. c.1870.
FOLDING CHAIR
This red-lacquered priest’s folding chair is from the Edo period (1603-18671. The back is gold-lacquered and carved with manji diaper and a trellis of repeated manji motifs. Originally manji was a Sanskrit symbol that has come to represent
Buddhism in Japan. Mid 19th century.
COLLECTOR’S CABINET
This unusual lacquered cabinet has been made as two stacking parts. The front and sides have recessed panels decorated with roundels on a deep gold ground. The roundels show various scenes in gold and silver, and display a variety
of techniques, including lacquerwork. The upper section of the cabinet has two doors, which open on to a fitted interior containing ten shallow and eight deeper drawers. The lower section has two deep drawers. The whole stands on shaped sabre feet.
The shaped sabre feet are mounted m metal.
There is an arrangement of five
shallow and four deep drawers
behind each cabinet door.
The roundels depict stylized rural and landscape scenes m gold, silver, and coloured lacquerwork.

Antique Carpets and Rugs. Turkestan.

Western Turkestan is a loosely defined area bordered by Iran and the Caspian Sea to the West, Afghanistan to the South, and China to the East. The region is inhabited by the Turkomans (Turkic peoples), whose tribal structure has historically always been complex and shifting. Mane of the tribal groups under this heading changed over the years as alliances were formed, broken, and re-formed. The main tribal subdivisions within this group are the Tekke, the Yomut, the Salor, the Ersari, the Beshir, the Saryk, and the Belouch. Their weaving tradition dates back centuries, but most examples found today can be confidently dated only to the 18th century or later. Western Turkestan came under the control of the Russian empire in the late I 9th century, and later of the Soviet Union. Russian domination gradually eroded the tribal structures and consequently tribal weavings became more stereotyped and commercialized, and less highly collectable.
TURKOMAN WEAVINGS
Turkoman weavings, as a group, are easy to recognize, but to identify the exact tribal subdivision can prove difficult. Based on nomadic traditions, their woven products included rugs and functional artifacts of daily life such as torba (long, narrow bags), juval (deeper bags), and trappings. Large carpets (more than 3.5m/ 12ft long) are seldom seen. Most pieces have a limited colour scheme – usually Turkoman weavings have the same ground and border colour. The background colour is usually red in all its shades, ranging from a very bright terracotta through burgundy to brown or aubergine. The designs, in dark brown, white, and blue, with occasional yellow, crimson, and green, are abstract and geometric in form, following the typical nomadic custom, and are woven from memory with patterns passed down through the generations. Wool is used for foundation and pile.
Prior to any commercialization the Turkomans used their weavings to decorate their circular tents, known as 6y; the motifs they wove identified the tribe. As in certain Ottoman designs, the primary motif is the gul, a geometric, highly stylized floral motif, and its shape
is (or was originally) the distinctive signature of the tribe – its symbol or emblem. The gul is used in repeated parallel rows in the main field design, which is framed by a complementary border. Difficulties of exact tribal attribution can arise, as gul motifs were copied from neighbouring tribes, or, during times of conflict, motifs were stolen and adapted by the victorious group.
By the end of the 19th century, commercialization along with increasing demand from Western markets led to the emergence of a more stereotyped style. The Tekke gul proved especially popular, and as a result other tribal groups abandoned their own gul to use that of the Tekke instead. By the end of the 19th century, although commercial production was a success, the individual weaving traditions of the tribes had virtually died out.
THE TRIBES
The Tekke were the most powerful tribe in western Turkestan during the 19th century until they were defeated in 1881 by the Russian army. They were prolific weavers, their products ranging from main carpets to functional functional pieces. Their carpets are among the most copied in Pakistan and Afghanistan today. Tekke carpets are often incorrectly called “Bokhara” carpets, while the famous Tekke gul is sometimes incorrectly described as the “elephant’s foot” gul after its shape. Tekke carpets often display a characteristic grid of black horizontal and vertical lines joining the guls. Weavings made prior to the end of the 19th century are extremely collectable and of high quality.
The Yomut were also prolific weavers. It is sometimes difficult to identify a Yomut piece, since the tribe used a great variety of designs, but various shades of brown and aubergine for the grounds, and bright reds, yellows, Hue, and ivory for pattern details arc typical. Yomut guls often have hooked edges and may be arranged in diagonals. Like the Tekke, the Yomut are famous for pertain artifacts, such as asmalyk (came] trappings).
The Salor, a notorious warring tribe, were heavily defeated by the Persians in 1831, and later by the Tckke in a land struggle in 1859. The tribe then effectively disintegrated and members were swallowed into larger groups such as the Ersari. Their large, rounded gul containing a trefoil motif (known as a or “flower”, gul) was subsequently adopted by the Tekke and the Saryk, but was used by these tribes in greater density, giving the pattern an overcrowded appearance.
In contrast to the finely woven work of the neighbouring Tekke and Yomut, the weaving of the Ersari is crude and loose. The Ersari are closely associated with the Beshir, and both were prolific weaving groups until the late 19th century. A typical Ersari design uses the gulli gul repeated in tightly packed rows. Borders of stepped medallions arc also common. Ersari carpets are often labelled as Afghan, mainly because the Turkoman plains of northern Afghanistan formed part of the tribe’s territory. Their designs, particularly the large gul format, were also imitated by later Afghan mass production.
The Saryk were one of the least prolific weaving groups in Turkestan: pieces identifiable to them arc rare, and sought after by collectors. Unusually for Turkoman work, Saryk carpets use the Turkish (symmetrical) knot. They also use several different guls, similar to those of the Tekke and the Salor. Most typical is a large octagonal old with 24 facets, often containing cross-shaped motifs; large and small guls may alternate in rows.
The Belouch (now the Baluchi) inhabit an isolated region straddling the Afghan-Iranian border. Their work is distinctive and original, making use of wonderfully soft natural camel wool. Prayer-rugs are one of their most highly regarded formats, while the tree — often a stylized tree of life — is one of their most typical motifs.
MAIN TRIBES the Tekke, the Yomut, the Salor, the Ersari, the Beshir, the Saryk, and the Belouch
• TYPES rugs, carpets, and artifacts such as bags and animal trappingsWEAVE
• wool pile on its wool foundation is typical
• COLORS the field is usually characterized by extremely distinctive shades of red and brown; Turkoman weavings typically have the same colour around and border; decorative motifs are atypically in dark blue or ivory
• DESIGNS these are almost exclusively geometric in form and are based upon motifs of flora and fauna; repeat designs of the gul or flower-head arc usually featured in the field
• COLLECTING examples are subdivided into tribal groups and arc usually identified by the shape and style of the primary gul motif; pieces made before 1900 are sought after by collectors; later pieces lack the individuality and subtlety of colour of early pieces and tend to be more coarsely woven
• BEWARE pieces from western Turkestan are often erroneously classified as “Bokhara” weavings after the exporting town in the region; however, no rugs were ever made in Bokhara; collectors should beware that designs are often copied in Pakistan using considerably inferior colours and materials to the originals

Antique Rugs and Carpets. Caucasus.

The mountainous region between the Black and Caspian seas is inhabited by many ethnic groups, whose weaving traditions go back centuries. However, very little is known of the type of carpet produced here prior to the mid-17th century, although what emerges from this time is a clearly identifiable group of carpets based on a nomadic and semi-nomadic style of production. The designs incorporate both bold and finely drawn geometric motifs in bright, vivid, contrasting colours, and characteristically depict stylized animal and floral forms. These strong, geometric, individual renderings are highly prized by collectors, particularly examples that date from before c.1900. Later examples lack spontaneity, and are inclined to appear dull and stereotyped by comparison.
EARLY CAUCASIAN WEAVINGS
The oldest identifiable group of Caucasian carpets is the so-called “Kuba dragon” carpets, which appear to date from about the mid-17th century. The name “Kuba” is likely to be spurious, as it is now generally thought that these carpets were woven in the Karabagh district of the southern Caucasus and the Shirvan district of the eastern Caucasus. The dragon rugs represent a bold and powerful provincial rendering of Persian animal and vase carpet designs from, the towns of Tabriz, Kashan, and Kirman during the Safavid period (1501-1732). They incorporate stylized dragons and other motifs such as cloudbands, cranes, and phoenixes, which are associated with Chinese art and which also appear, naturalistically drawn, in Persian Safavid town production.
The overall design format with an endless repeat of animal and floral forms without a lattice arrangement also stems from the established format adopted by the Safavid court style. The degree of stylization of the drawing varies from carpet to carpet, with some carpets displaying motifs whose origins are barely identifiable. The production of large carpets, taking a characteristically long, narrow form and decorated with designs derived from classic production, virtually ceases by the mid-18th century.
LATER NORTH- AND EAST-CAUCASIAN WEAVINGS
Most Caucasian rugs date from the 19th century and were made in village workshops by weavers who combined a nomadic tradition, often based on an earlier Anatolian work, with formal designs based on the earlier dragon carpets or directly on Persian town influences. Northern and eastern Caucasian rugs are mostly on a cotton foundation or a combination of wool and cotton. The design repertory is endless, but there are certain consistent features in the group. The pile is in most cases tightly woven and closely wrapped, which allows for greater crispness and definition of design. The colours are jewel-like and vibrant. Kuba, Shirvan, and Dagestan are the three main districts where technically fine Caucasian rugs are produced. Within each district, particular towns are associated with carpet production: Perebedil, Chi Chi, and Seichur in Kuba, and Marasali and Akstafa in Shirvan are the best known. Dagestan rugs are named after the district.
Rugs from the village of Seichur are particularly distinctive; mainly in runner format, they usually feature a repeating “St Andrew’s cross” medallion in a typically formal arrangement, as seen in such earlier classic pieces as the “Holbein” rugs. The remaining field is often crammed with stylized flowering branches. White is rare as a background colour, with shades of blue and red being much more usual. Dark blue is particularly common in northern and eastern Caucasian rugs; small details are frequently picked out in brighter colours, and contrast strongly against the dark background. Visually appealing examples will, additionally, incorporate a background border colour that contrasts with the field colour. Prayer-rugs are typically woven with the mihrab, or prayer niche, consistently geometric in shape and very easily identifiable.
The north-easterly region of Dagestan is renowned for its well-made prayer-rugs with white or ivory grounds. The light ground is filled in with diagonal rows of multicoloured, stylized plants in a serrated lattice. Borders are typically in a contrasting colour to the ground.
LATER SOUTH- AND WEST-CAUCASIAN WEAVINGS
Bold and open designs epitomize rugs from the Karabagh and Kazak districts in the southern and western Caucasus, respectively. In contrast to that of rugs from the North and East, the wool pile is long and usually much more loosely woven, resulting in bolder, less detailed motifs. Designs are based upon earlier classic forms, both Persian and Anatolian. Good examples exhibit a fine balance between scale and colour contrast in the pattern details. Carpets are seldom produced, mainly owing to
the predominantly village-oriented nature of production, but also because the bold designs lend themselves to a smaller, rug-sized scale, as well as to runner formats. Bold prayer-rug designs are also found.
In establishing the quality of rugs from this area, it is important to look for bright, vibrant colours that are not brash or conflicting. Also look for lustrous wool in the pile and a good balance of design. Fineness of weave is not usually a factor in determining the quality of rugs from this region. Pieces made after 1880 may display harsh chemical dyes, with bright shades of orange and purple very noticeable. These were the first chemical dyes produced, c.1870, and do not harmonize with more traditional, natural colours. Shades of brown and charcoal are often used – these are prone to natural corrosion or oxidation due to the iron in the dyestuff. • MAN AREAS OF PRODUCTION the Kuba, Shirvan, Dagestan, Karabagh, and Kazak districts
• WEAVE mostly wool on a wool foundation although some finer pieces are produced on a cotton foundation
• SCALE most pieces are of rug size although runners and practical artifacts were also produced
• COLOURS jewel-like colours are characteristic for the field, especially red, blue, white, and sometimes yellow; avoid pieces in shades of orange as well as any examples with colour run; particularly beware of red bleeding into white
• DESIGNS these are almost always geometric; prayer-rugs arc typical of the area
• MOTIFS floral and animal motifs are typical
• COLLECTING pieces are usually identifiable by district or by village; rugs produced before 1900 are highly sought after by collectors; later examples tend to feature poor colour combinations and usually lack the individuality of earlier pieces; examples are copied in Turkey but colours arc likely to be pastel-based

Antique Turkish Carpets before 1700

The practice of weaving carpets may have been brought to Anatolia by the Seljuks, a Turkic people from Central Asia who ruled Anatolia from 1077 to 1307. Eight fragmented 13th-century Seljuk carpets were found in the Aladdin Mosque, Konya, in 1905. Some are enormous (6m/nearly 20ft long), several are decorated with geometric floral designs based on Chinese silk brocades, and all have wide borders of stylized Kufic script. These carpets are now in the Turkish and Islamic Museum in Istanbul. Of extraordinary graphic power and grandeur, they reflect a highly developed and sophisticated awareness of weaving as an art form.
THE OTTOMANS
The Ottomans, also originally Turks from Central Asia, established themselves in Turkey in the late 13th century. They took Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453 and ruled until 1922. At the height of its power the Ottoman Empire extended from Egypt to Hungary.
Most surviving court weavings date from the 16th and 17th centuries. Early carpets show the geometric gul medallion) patterns that derive from the Central Asian tradition. The “Memling” gul (named after the 1 5th German painter Hans Memling, who depicted similar carpets in his work) consists of an octagon enclosing a stepped hooked medallion. Other carpets use the “Holbein” pattern (named after Hans Holbein the Younger), typically comprising rows of octagonal medallions framed by arabesques, interspersed with smaller lozenges. The distinctive “Lotto” design (after Lorenzo Lotto) is a development of the Chinese brocade designs of the Seljuk carpets; it features stylized yellow fines, leaves, and palmettes on a red ground.
Cairo, colonized by the Ottomans in 1517, had under the previous Mamluk rule (1250-1517) created carpets with dense, all-over geometric designs, usually in green, crimson, and white with a little yellow. Weavers from Cairo may have initially been responsible for the group of finely woven mid-16th-century rugs and carpets that show the development of the true Ottoman court style and are very different from the earlier geometric designs. Motifs include the cintamani (three balls above a pair of wavy lines), which became one of the most popular devices in Ottoman art (found in tiles, textiles, carpets, and metalwork). Other decoration includes cloudbands and lotus palmettes (from Chinese art), large leaves, and the four favourite Ottoman flowers: carnations, tulips, hyacinths, and roses. Many of these motifs appear stylized in 18th- and 19th-century Turkish village rugs.
A “Star” carpet made in Ushak
The star shape of the main medallion originated in China and is also found in 15th- and 16th-century Persian carpets. The repeat pattern, with its incomplete outer medallions, was intended to suggest infinity. (c.1550-1600; I. 1.8m/5ft 11 in; value Q)
In the late 16th and 17th centuries other designs were developed, including the large “medallion” and “star” carpets of Ushak in western Anatolia. Both these types show an endless repeating design cut by borders. The medallion layout, first used in bindings of the Koran, may have been borrowed from the contemporary Persian carpets of Tabriz (Tabriz artists were employed by the Ottoman court). The ground of the medallion carpets, which is of red vines and palmettes on blue, or vice versa, again recalls Chinese textiles. Other motifs are Persian-influenced, taking the form of sprays of flowers and arabesque scrolls. There are a number of border designs, many used interchangeably on the various carpets, including Kufic, cloudbands, palmettes with flower sprays, and floral cartouches. Turkish carpets were highly prized in the West. Many Tudor (1485-1603) portraits depict their subjects standing proudly on their Turkish carpets. European carpets are knotted with the Turkish, or symmetrical, knot in imitation of these early imports. Most Turkish and many Caucasian rugs of the 18th and 19th centuries have designs developed from the Ottoman production of the 15th-17th centuries.
T “Transylvanian” rug made in Ushak
Large quantities of these Turkish rugs were exported to Europe. In Transylvania many were used to decorate Protestant churches in the 17th and 18th centuries -hence their name. This example features stylized mosque lamps.

Antique Turkish Carpets after 1700

The Ottoman tradition of weaving established between the 15th and 17th centuries formed the inspiration for rug production in Turkey in the 19th century. What emerged was the creation of far more commercial rugs and carpets to appeal to a wider, Western audience — products that were still traditional in approach, but more accessible. This commercialization affected both village rug production and town and city workshop production, with designs evolving or being adapted from the earlier classic traditions.
VILLAGE AND NOMADIC PRODUCTION
Rugs woven in villages throughout Turkey share similar design formats, construction, and traditional influences with their Persian and Caucasian neighbours to the East and North, and with those from Central Asia further
East. Village products incorporate essentially geometric design elements, woven on woollen warps and wefts, and made with the Turkish knot. Inspiration is drawn from earlier classic renditions; the guls (medallions) used are frequently similar to guls seen in Turkoman carpets from Central Asia, while the influence of the early “Holbein” rugs is often evident in the shape of the medallions. Designs that were popular in the 18th and 19th centuries are reproduced today in similar formats and contemporary shades, although as is typical throughout the industry, products made after c.1900 lack the individuality and vibrancy of the earlier pieces.
Very little of the Turkish rug production is actually nomadic; most is cooperative and village-based. The Yuruk and the Kurds are two nomadic peoples who weave on their migrations. Rugs from these two groups share similarities with Caucasian Kazak and Karabagh rugs, with their bold, geometric patterns and strong palette. The pile is usually even deeper than in the Caucasian carpets. One of the major differences between the Caucasian and the Turkish village and nomad rugs is the lack of zoomorphic and human forms in the Turkish pieces: the design elements are almost exclusively floral-based.
TOWN PRODUCTION
Like Persian town production, Turkish town rugs and carpets have formal curvilinear designs, and in some centres are woven from cartoons (scale drawings); most production is on cotton or sometimes silk foundations, although town rugs and carpets in Turkey are also woven on woollen foundations. In western Turkey the town of Ghiordes (the name used to describe the Turkish, or symmetrical, knot) was a main weaving centre from the 17th to the early 20th century. Although on a wool foundation, the pile of Turkish town rugs and carpets is finely woven on red- or pink-dyed warps, and a cotton weft is used. Rugs from Ghiordes are often of prayer-rug form; others recall earlier design traditions. Zigzags, hexagonal medallions, and stylized floral motifs are typical. This type of rug design was popular in the 19th century.
Prayer-rugs are widespread in Turkish rug production. Ladik in central Anatolia is famous for those made in the 18th and early 19th centuries, depicting a plain mihrab (prayer niche) supported by a detailed border, presenting a striking image. These rugs also demonstrate the use of design elements adapted from older rugs. The town of Konya, close to Ladik, is also a centre for the production of prayer-rugs. Alternative prayer-rug formats included the use of a double mihrab — again a feature associated with similar rug production from the classic era. Konya produces bold geometric-design rugs very similar in character and colour to Kazak rugs from the Caucasus. Both Ladik and Konya rugs are highly sought after by collectors, due to their powerful and distinctive images.
MASTERPIECES OF TURKISH WEAVING
The town of Hereke, east of Istanbul, is famous for its extremely fine silk rugs with refined, elegant decoration. The finest silk rugs in the world are made there today. At the same time that Hereke started its production (late 19th century), workshops were established in Kum Kapi, the Armenian quarter of Istanbul. Exceptional, finely woven silk rugs were made there by Turkish Armenians who came from the weaving centres of Kayseri and Sivas; technically advanced in the art of rug-weaving, they produced rugs of a quality that had not been seen since the 17th century. They drew their inspiration from the Ottoman court style and the classic 16th-century Persian rugs of the Safavid period (1501-1732). Many of the products from these workshops are signed by the master weavers, with names that are now legendary: Zareh Penyamian, Hagop Kapoudjian, and the Tossounian family. These exquisite masterpieces are highly regarded and command high prices.
WESTERN INFLUENCE
In the late 19th century Western demand for decorative large-scale carpets increased, affecting both Persia and Turkey. Turkish carpet production during the 1890s responded to the new market, and Ushak in western Anatolia produced large, coarsely woven, decorative carpets for the European and American markets. These were often made to order by stores such as Liberty & Co. (est. 1875) in London, and carpets may still be found bearing their labels. Loosely woven on woollen foundations, many of these carpets were of indifferent quality and unattractive, the design most frequently produced being bright red with all-over bold green-andblue lozenges and palmettos: these are often referred to as “Turkey” carpets. However, some attractive products were made, generally based on Persian models of the same period.
• MAIN AREAS OF PRODUCTION Ghiordes, Ladik, Konya,
Hereke, Kum Kapi (Istanbul)
• WEAVE most town pieces are either cotton or silk on a wool foundation; less fine examples are woven in wool
• DESIGNS many patterns take their inspiration from classic prototypes and Persian models; nomadic and semi-nomadic rugs usually feature geometric designs
• COLOURS these vary enormously from bright, vibrant jewel colours to washed-out pastel shades – the latter especially typical of town production pieces; poor examples feature harsh bright colours; modern nomadic and semi-nomadic pieces are characterized by the use of soft pastel shades
• COLLECTING look out for harmonious colour combinations and well-balanced designs; fine silk rugs from Hereke and Kum Kapi are rare, exquisitely made, and usually extremely valuable; it is advisable to buy rare antique rugs only from reputable dealers – the most beautiful examples would have been made for export purposes so it is not usually advisable to travel to the country of production to find the best pieces

Oriental Persian Carpets.

Persian Carpets before 1800.

The origins of pile weaving are obscure, but that it is an ancient skill is proven by a hand-knotted rug found in Pazyryk, southern Siberia, dating from between the 3rd and 5th centuries BC. Fragments of piled weavings (3rd-6th centuries AD) have been found in Xinjiang (eastern Turkestan); others dating mainly from the 13th century have been uncovered at Fostat in Cairo.
By the 13th century rug-weaving was well established it Anatolia and by at least the 15th century pile carpets were mad, in Egypt. Persian carpets are mentioned in 10th-century Aral records, by Marco Polo in the 13th century, and by the 14th-century explorer Ibn Batuta. Paintings of the 14th an( 15th centuries depict weavings similar to early Turkish carpets.
SAFAVID WEAVING
The great trade artery, the Silk Route, ran from Beijing in the east, through eastern and western Turkestan, Persia (Iran), and Turkey, to Europe. Under Timurid rule (1370-1506) Persia established strong links with China, and motifs such as cloudbands, cranes, phoenixes, and dragons were introduced to the Timurid court artists via Chinese textiles and pottery.
The Safavids (1501-1732) conquered Persia in 1501. Tahmasp, the second shah, established royal workshops for weaving carpets and textiles in Kashan, Kirman, Isfahan (now Esfahan), and Tabriz, ushering in the classic age of Persian carpet-weaving. These cities grew into the four great centres of production.
The earliest carpets, from the late 15th to early 16th century, are associated with Tabriz in north-west Persia. They have a large medallion often shaped like a lotus flower with cusped lobes, edged in stylized clouds. cloudbands and arabesques fill the field. As this design developed, the medallion acquired pendants, and animals in combat appeared in the field. Countless variations on this theme are found in 19th- and 20th-century carpets.
The hunting motifs of a magnificent 16th-century silk carpet from the silk-weaving centre Kashan were much borrowed in the 19th and 20th centuries in Tehran, Kirman, Isfahan, and Kashan. The design was popular with mid-20th-century weavers in Qom. Small silk rugs woven in Kashan in the mid-16th century, with a medallion and spandrel design, gave rise to countless modern imitations, many woven in the same city between c.1900 and 1930. In the 17th century, the great Islamic cultural centre of Isfahan in central Persia, under Shah Abbas, produced carpets with all-over designs of vine
tendrils supporting huge palmettes, curled “sickle” or saz leaves (shaped like a scythe blade with a serrated edge), and bold borders. Such designs are often on a strong red ground.
Certain carpets believed to be from Kirman are known as “vase” carpets. Made from the mid-16th to the late 17th century, some pieces depict Chinese-style vases on a trelliswork of vines, palmettes, and leaves. These carpets have a double layer of cotton warps, and three shoots of weft, the middle one silk. All carpets with this unusual structure are called “vase” carpets, even where the vase pattern does not appear. This trellis, palmetto, and leaf pattern was widely copied in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Many classical Persian carpets were exported to the West, and a great number can now be seen in museums. Wool carpets from Isfahan were popular, as were the silk Polonaise, or Polish, rugs originally thought to come from Poland, but in fact from 17th-century Isfahan. They are woven in bright green, blue, red, and ivory, with brocaded areas in silver or gilt metal (a thin strip of metal was wound around a white or yellow silk thread). Early 20th-century rugs from the Kum Kapi district of Istanbul were inspired by these rugs; modern silk and metal thread rugs from Hereke in Turkey are their distant cousins.
• MAIN CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Kashan, Kirman,
Tabriz, and Isfahan
• SCALE most examples are large carpets, although some small rugs were also produced
• WEAVE most are woven in wool or silk, sometimes with metal thread details; some are woven in silk on a silk and cotton foundation
• DESIGNS early Persian carpets were based on cartoons, many of which were drawn by court artists; the designs of these carpets form the basis of most later Persian weaving patterns
• MOTIFS these include cloudbands, hunting motifs, vegetation (palmettes, vines, lotus-flower-shaped designs, and leaves), cranes, phoenixes, and dragons

Persian Carpets after 1800.

The quality and quantity of Persian weaving declined greatly in the 18th and early 19th centuries compared to the fine traditions established in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, from the mid-19th century there was a revival of interest, mainly generated by a renewed Western fashion for Eastern products. Demand was accelerated by easier travel and trade links together with a new awareness which was to a large degree generated by British colonialism. Two distinct styles of carpet production emerged in Persia, both firmly based on earlier traditions: the city and town workshop style, and the tribal and village style. Associated with these were the more commercial carpets created to feed the new Western market.
TOWN AND CITY PRODUCTION
Certain towns and cities are synonymous with carpet weaving in Persia. Tabriz in the north-west, Mashad in the north-east, Isfahan (now Esfahan) and Kashan in central Persia, and Kirman in the south-east are of particular importance. Although there are regional
variations in the uses of colour and in the presentation of the subject-matter, there are several important characteristics in this group that identify the style.
Based on the designs of the earlier classic era (16th-to 17th-century Safavid weavings), the pattern details are essentially curvilinear in form, with particular emphasis on floral design elements. Flower-heads, palmettos (vertically split flowers), and associated vines and foliage are the predominant features, naturalistically drawn to create an image of a colourful garden. Variations on this theme may sometimes include people TRIBAL AND VILLAGE PRODUCTION
Tribal rugs are woven by the various nomadic groups during migrations with their flocks, and have been subject to few outside influences. The tribal tradition of rug-weaving is quite different from that of town manufacture: designs are woven from memory, with patterns passed down from generation to generation, or adapted from other products seen by the weavers on their travels; designs are therefore often highly original. The designs of tribal rugs are always geometric, and represent stylized versions of the more naturalistic drawing seen in town rugs. The geometric patterns are mainly determined by the use of the Turkish knot, which is suited to creating angular lines. Tribal products are woven with a wool pile on wool foundation; being a thick material, wool does not allow for such intricate detail as is possible on the cotton or silk foundations of products made in the towns.
Floral motifs abound and are often highly stylized. Animals, birds, and humans are also often depicted, although they are sometimes barely recognizable. Persian tribal rugs tend to be more densely decorated than their northerly Caucasian neighbours, whose designs are bolder and even more rigidly rectilinear.
The best-known Persian tribal groups are the
Kashgai, the Khamseh, and the Afshar, all of which
use wonderful, jewel-like colours – blues, reds, yellows, greens, and ivory – in all tones. Their work includes all-over designs and medallion formats, and they occasionally produce prayer-rugs. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the products of these three tribes, since they often borrow each other’s ideas.
Technical quality in tribal work can vary enormously, from extremely coarse to extremely fine depending on the experience or competence of the weaver. It is important to note that the value of a piece is not necessarily based on technical fineness, but may also depend on its visual appeal or its individuality. As well as rugs, artifacts such as bags and animal trappings are woven. Carpets are rarely seen, although in some villages around the main marketing towns settled tribespeople weave large-scale pieces.
WESTERN INFLUENCE
In 1882 Ziegler & Co., a British/Swiss firm exporting Persian goods to the West, set up carpet workshops in Sultanabad (now Arak) in north-west Persia. Traditional designs were adapted for the Western market, incorporating bold floral motifs linked by lattice vines and framed within wide borders. Such carpets are highly popular and valuable, although central-medallion carpets of this type are less sought after. A particular Western-led innovation was the employment of the human figure as the main, pictorial element of a design.
• MAIN CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Tabriz, Mashad,
Isfahan, Kashan, Kirman, Heriz, and Senneh
• MAIN TRIBES the Kashgai, the Khamseh, and the Afshar
• TYPES town and city production: mostly rugs and carpets; tribal and village production: smaller wares –rugs and artifacts such as bags and animal trappings are typical; carpets are rare
• WEAVES town and city rugs and carpets are generally finely woven with either wool on a cotton foundation or, sometimes, silk pile on a silk foundation; tribal and village designs are mostly woven in wool on wool
• COLOURS these vary enormously from the broad range of pastels and bright colours used in towns and cities to the bold, jewel-like colours typical of tribal production
• DESIGNS town and city pieces are based on cartoons; curvilinear designs, typically featuring floral motifs, are common; tribal and village rugs and carpets are woven from memory, so no two examples are exactly alike; design and colouring have often been governed by the export market – the use of the human figure as the principal design was mainly inspired by Western tastes
• COLLECTING avoid pieces in shades of orange and garish shades of red; tribal rugs made before 1900 are prized by collectors; modern 20th-century examples are likely to be well made and attractive but lack the individuality in colour and design of older 19th-century pieces; fine tribal weaves can be very valuable

Middle East Pottery

The countries and regions that embraced early Islam were ideally located to absorb the cultural, commercial, and technical cross-currents of the early medieval world. Chinese commodities were one of the major influences in Islamic lands – an area that stretched from India to the Atlantic Ocean. Trade with China was well established by the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906), since many Arabs were resident in Guangzhou (Canton), and in addition to spices, perfumes, and silks the Chinese sent ceramics to the Middle East.
EARLY WARES
From the 9th century, potters in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) were so inspired by Chinese wares that they strove to imitate them. The first types of ware made were buff or red earthenwares covered with a tin glaze. In an effort to simulate metals potters also developed the lustre technique, and during the next 300 years this method of decoration spread through Islamic countries, reaching Spain in the 13th or 14th century. Tin-glazed earthen-wares and lustre wares were two of the most important types of pottery bequeathed to Europe by the brilliant Islamic ceramic tradition. In eastern Persia (now Iran) the crisply contoured 10th- and 11th-century slipwares of Nishapur and Samarkand were subtly decorated with abstract leaf or geometric motifs and Kufic script.
PERSIAN WARES
Unique to the Islamic world is fritware, a glassy composition perhaps developed to copy imported Chinese porcelains produced during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). This grainy, white-bodied ware is often covered in a viscous, deep turquoise-blue glaze. Between c.1215 and 1334 plain and lustred wares were made in the town of Kashan, south of Tehran; the technique was probably introduced to Persia in the 12th century by Egyptian potters.
The sophisticated polychrome Mina’i (enamel)
wares of late-12th- or 13th-century Persia may often
seem crowded and confused, but they are nonetheless
outstanding examples of the Islamic decorator’s art.
Mina’i pottery was made in Rayy (now Rhages) near
Tehran, and is decorated with figures and painted in a wide range of colours. Many examples of early Mina’i ware are painted with large-scale figures in the manner of contemporary lustreware, but later the emphasis was
on small-scale, narrative subjects.
Later Persian wares, made during the
Safavid (1501-1732) and subsequent periods, include those from Meshed (eastern Persia), Kirman (western Persia), and Kubachi (northern Persia), most of which were painted in the style of late Ming and Transitional Chinese porcelains. The bodies, glazes, and decorations of these Persian wares Lire very similar and it is difficult to tell them apart.
IZNIK AND KOTAHYA
In the 16th century, extremely fine copies of blue-andwhite Chinese wares were made by the potters in Iznik (east of  Istanbul) and Kutahya in central Anatolia. The potters in these towns created superb, crisply painted
wares with swirling and scrolling foliage, painted either in blue or in a combination of turquoise, green, and, later, a thick red (Armenian bole). In addition to conventional decorative pottery vessels and dishes, Iznik and Damascus potters produced some of the finest tileworks for mosques and secular buildings. These latter wares were highly influential in late 19th-century Europe, as seen in, for example, the work of the English designer William De Morgan (1839-1917).
KEY FACTS
Early wares
•    BODY buff or red earthenware
•    GLAZE tin oxide
•    LUSTRE ruby, brown, yellow, black, red
•    TYPES tin-glazed wares; lustre wares
•    DECORATION fusion of Chinese and Islamic designs, usually abstract
Persian wares
•    BODY Mina’i: coarse; Meshed, Kirman, and Kubachi: white frit paste
•    GLAZE Mina’i: creamy; Meshed, Kirman, and Kubachi: thick and soft
•    DECORATION Mina’i: underglaze colours and overglaze enamels; Meshed, Kirman, and Kubachi: resemble each other; black design outline may suggest a Meshed piece
Turkish wares
•    BODY Iznik: greyish buff, grainy, and absorbent; Kutahya: buff and thinly potted
•    GLAZE Iznik: translucent, but slightly bluish tone; Kutahya: irregular, gathers in bluish or greenish pools
•    STYLES Iznik: “Golden Horn” (c.1530) decorated with knotted pencilled scrolls; “Damascus” (c.1550-70) very sumptuous, with large-scale floral subjects and saw-edged leaf (saz); “Rhodian” (c.1555-1700) mainly floral; Chinese-style blue-and-white wares
•    PALETTE Iznik: wide range of colours dominated by turquoise and a scaling-wax red (Armenian bole)
•    DECORATION Kutahya: crude, floral, and figural
Marks
Islamic pottery is rarely marked, although individual potters’ marks do occasionally appear; corruptions of late Ming seal marks are used on Persian pottery

Later Japanese ceramics
In 1853 Commodore Nlatthew Galbraith Perry of the United States Navy entered Japanese territorial waters, forcing the country to accept diplomatic relations and trade with the West after over 200 years of seclusion. One of the effects of this exposure was the introduction of western technology, and this, coupled with the ambitions of the new Meiji Government after 1868, encouraged expansion. The town of Arita, the traditional home of Japanese porcelain, responded not only by making increasing numbers of conventional wares but also with brilliant showpieces suitable for display at international exhibitions and trade fairs, such as those held in London in the 1860x, in Paris ( 1867), and in Philadelphia ( 1876). The potters in the most important ceramic centres – Kaga, Satsuma, Kyoto and Seto – also benefited from the liberal policies of the Meiji Government. Vast quantities of pottery and porcelain saturated the markets in Europe Lind the USA. Such was the craze for all things Japanese that both impressionism and the Aesthetic Movement were inspired by the imported wares.
The range of Meiji ceramics is vast and includes extraordinarily elaborate and over-decorated earthenwares and the most delicate and flimsy eggshell porcelains. The majority arc generally considered to be of variable quality, especially the blue-and-white Arita and Imari porcelains. The mass-produced wares for the export market rarely correspond to the canons of the traditional Japanese aesthetic; the designs are mostly very busy and often lack coherence. They appear either to reflect a Western picture-postcard view of Japan or to be re-creations of earlier export porcelains. The emphasis was on space-filling decoration such as millefiori (thousand flowers) or overlapping panels of various shapes filled with diverse ornament.
ARITA
Late Imari porcelain (made in or around the town of Arita) consists mainly of decorative vases, bottles, bowls, and dishes; figures or useful tablewares
were rarely if ever made. The majority v of the production was f off-white, poorly levigated
porcelain covered in a thinnish
glaze. Surface pitting, iron flecks, and smudged cobalt indicate the somewhat
casual nature of this mass-produced output. Designs are often partly stencilled with outlines in a variable Underglaze blue, which were then infilled with an orangey iron-red, green, turquoise and gilding. The surface decoration featured either a main subject within complicated borders, or an all-over design made up of small panels showing various non-concordant subjects. For such wares the emphasis was on ornamentation –the “more-is-better” school of thought. Output includes enormous Indian dub-shaped vases with flared and frilled necks; small shallow saucer dishes; globular bottles with tall narrow cylindrical necks; multi-lobed, high-shouldered jars; and large dishes moulded in the form of a chrysanthemum. These wares arc generally unmarked, although many have impressed characters. The best Imari wares at this time were made by the Fukugawa family. In 1894 Chuji Fukugawa founded the Fukugawa Manufacturing Manufacturing Co. in Arita, which produced very refined wares -with symmetrical, soft, smoky -blue underglaze decoration.
Blue-and-white Arita wares are made of the same material as the Imari type, but the designs are not compartmentalized in the same way, relying instead on ordered floral, bird, or animal subjects. Some of the flatwares, especially the smaller dishes, were decorated entirely using stencils.
KAGA AND SETO
Although Kaga on the island of Honshu was a major centre for stoneware, it produced little porcelain of note Until the 19th century. The porcelain from the region around Kaga is known as Kutani ware. There are two basic styles of this: the first uses dark washes of green, purple, yellow, and black; the second, which was made specifically for export to the West, is known as “Red Kutani”. This export ware has a red ground and grisaille decoration showing people in romantic land- and riverscapes enjoying the delights of the season; decoration may also be heightened with gilding. another common type of Kutani ware does not use red.
By the end of the 19th century there were 434 kilns in Seto in Owari Province, producing mainly export wares. The potters generally appear to have made blue-and-white porcelains, some very close in feeling and design to the Chinese porcelains produced during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1662-1722). Output consisted of thinly potted ornamental vases and teawares, which were sent to Tokyo for decoration.
SATSUMA AND KYOTO
Although Satsuma was an important centre of ceramic production from the 16th century, the town is synonymous with the highly decorative export wares made from the mid-19th century. These cream-coloured earthenwares with finely crackled glazes and thickly applied enamelled and gilded decoration were also produced in the town of Kyoto. Satsuma and Satsuma-type wares were first shown outside Japan at the international exhibitions, resulting in a huge demand for them in the West. While some are of the very highest craftsmanship, many are of rather mediocre or poor quality, intended for sale in department stores.
In Satsuma the Seikozan studio, and in
Kyoto such potters as Kinkozan IV (1824-84) and Yabu Meizan (1853-1934), made extremely fine panelled wares decorated with miniature scenes depicting people carrying out everyday activities like fishing, playing, or strolling in parklands or along riversides. Landmarks such as Mount Fujiama were also depicted, together with animals including monkeys, cranes, pheasants, peacocks, and cockerels, and flowers
Such as chrysanthemums, irises, proms blossom,
and wisteria. Around these panels the ground was embellished with complex patterns or overlapping designs. Wares included koro (incense burners), vases, wine or sake ewers, howls, covered jars, and figures. The most sophisticated wares with the finest-quality decoration appealed to followers of the Aesthetic Movement in Europe and the USA. Most of these wares are clearly signed on the base.
NORITAKE
In 1891 the McKinley Tariff Act passed by the American Congress declared that all Japanese wares imported into the USA should be clearly marked with the word “Nippon” (the Japanese name for
One of the most important factories that produced what were known as “Nippon” wares was the Noritake Co., established in 1904 in Nagoya by Icizaemon Morimura 1875). The company specialized in the production of porcelain wares, at first copying debased Rococo-style European wares decorated with flowers, fruit, foliage. in
and landscapes i pale pastel tones with gold relief highlights. During the 1920s such well-known designer-, as the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1956) were commissioned to supply designs reflecting the current vogue for Art Deco-style tea, coffee and dinner services. After 1921 the American government decided that the Nippon marls was to be changed to “Japan” or “Made in Japan”.

Arita
• BODY porcelain
• GLAZE usually fairly thin with surface pitting
• TYPES blue-and-white and Imari-style wares
• DECORATION Imari: busy; blue and white
Kaga and SetoBody
• porcelain
• DECORATION Kaga: loosely painted with predominant iron red or grisaille; Seto, mainly delicately, drawn natural themes in clear, bright g
underclaze blue
Satsuma and KyotoBODY
• fine earthenware
• GLAZE Satsuma: warm, creamy, crackled glaze
• PALETTE enamelling in bright colours, gilding
DECORATION landscapes; people carrying out everyday activities; flowers; animals
Marks
Kyoto: seal mark for Yabu Meizan
NoritakeBODY
• at first a grey Seto body; from the each- 1920s a pure white porcelain similar to that made at the French factory of Limoges
• TYPES good quality utilitarian wares of European/ American form intended for export
Marks
Mark used on many Noritake Nippon wares (C.1911-1921); “M” is for Morimura

Nabeshima and Hirado
NABESHIMA
The porcelain of Nabeshima (named after the ruling clan) was made at Okawachi, north of Arita, probably from the latter half of the 17th century until c.1870, exclusively for the ruling shogun and feudal lords. As this ware was the preserve of the aristocracy, little of it except “kiln wasters”, or seconds, would have reached the West before the late 19th century. A few examples have been sold at auction since World War II (including some of questionable date). Apart from a few pieces of hollow-ware – bottles, vases, boxes, and censers –most surviving items are dishes. In that category the majority are saucer dishes with exceptionally tall foot-rims (over 1.2cm high); the remainder are small pieces of various shapes.
Nabeshima ware is arguably the most refined of all pre-19th-century Japanese porcelain. The decoration is imaginative, timeless, and meticulously executed. The most popular themes are seasonal flowers or wintry trees, sometimes combined with underlying or juxtaposed patterns, which may be derived from waves, Chinese trelliswork, or basketry. This type of decoration could only have been
achieved by using a stencil or some kind of transfer-printing technique. For example, the repetitive geometric pattern called “calm-water” (seigaha) shows no evidence whatsoever of individual strokes, with their inevitable variations in intensity. Designs are often entirely outlined in underglaze blue with enamel infilling of iron red, turquoise, yellow, pale manganese, and black detailing, in a technique that recalls the doucai
porcelains dating from the early Ming period in China. The glaze is of a soft, pale, greyish-blue tone.
A feature of the characteristic Nabeshima saucer dishes is the underglaze-blue decoration on the
tall foot, which is found on most
pieces. The decoration consists
of a continuous band of
elongated “teeth” resembling
a comb, known as kusitakade.
The underside of the rim is
usually painted with beribbonec
coins (known as “cash”), clump
of formal flowers, or undulating foliage. Like much Nabeshima ware, saucer dishes tend to be decorated in colours, as this was
more desirable than the standard blue.
HIRADO
Some of the earliest Japanese blue-and-white porcelain was produced at Hirado, near Arita, toward the beginning of the 17th century. Production at the sites of Kihara and Nanko was made possible through the employment of immigrant Korean potters. The later wares, from another site at Mikawachi where production is thought to have begun c.1760, are the most familiar. These wares, either white or blue and white, were made from the very pure clay from the island of Amakusa, allowing the most intricate modelling and refined potting.
Production consisted of censers, brushpots, jars, vases, bottles, teawares, bowls, and dishes. From c.184( some of the larger pieces were applied with dragons or shi-shi (a depiction of the Buddhist lion) as either handles or knops. Other pieces were moulded in shallow relief with isolated flower-heads, symbols, or trellis. Blue-and-white wares were sensitively painted in a slightly blurred underglaze blue of varying tone. The most popular themes are children at play or vertiginous landscapes, but birds and large botanical subjects were also used. Border embellishment is invariably small and includes pointed leaves and pendant tassels.

Nabeshima
• BODY virtually flawless
• POTTING thin and always very neatly executed
• GLAZE subtly grained; a soft, bluish appearance
• PALETTE usually polychrome – underglaze blue, iron red, yellow, turquoise green, pale manganese/tan, and, very rarely, black
• FORMS mainly flatwares; saucer dishes
• DECORATION natural subjects
Hirado
• BODY pure white with an “icing-sugar” texture
• GLAZE a soft, bluish hue
• PALPATE either white or blue and white
Marks
Nabeshima wares arc never marked; Hirado wares are sometimes marked with the place of manufacture, occasionally with the potter’s or decorator’s name, or, most rarely, with a date