A woven silver hoya caps the smoky white glaze of this Momoyama period (early 17th century) Shino Koro incense burner wrapped in antique imported ikat and enclosed in a kiri-wood box. It is roughly 8 x 8 x 9 cm (3 x 3 x 3-1/2 inches). The rim has been ground to smoothly accept the silver lid, and it is in excellent condition.

A fine Japanese blue and white porcelain dish. The foliate rim with chocolate brown glaze, the white porcelain body and glaze, and the fine attention to detail all suggest Kakiemon type. The cavetto with decoration of flowering plants including peonies, prunus and others. The center decorated with a bird (perhaps a flycatcher) in fruited branches, rockery and bamboo leaves below...

Copper green and dark iron decorate the pale glazed sides of this exquisite box dating from the early Edo period (17th century) wrapped in a silk lined sarasa bag and enclosed in a black lacquered wood box. It is 1-3/4 inches (4.5 cm) square, roughly 3 inches (7 cm) tall and in overall fine condition.

A lightning shaped Narumi-Oribe Mukozuke dish decorated with geometrics and drying persimmons enclosed in a fine custom kiri-wood box titled “E-Oribe Mukozuke” and annotated “Mino Ko-gama” by Living National Treasure Kato Takuo, who was well known for his research into old kilns and firing techniques. One of the best preserved pieces I have seen in a long time dating from the Momoyama to early Edo period.; it originally had three looping feet which have been lost...

Considered an auspicious symbols of wealth, status, and good fortune, foo dogs—commonly referred to as shishi or komainu in Japan—are often seen in pairs guarding shrines, straddling the doorways of shops, and protecting public buildings. The yellow Seto-ware shishi featured here is an antique from the Momoyama period that displays a soft patina developed over many decades of use...

An Annan pottery tea bowl for use in the Japanese tea ceremony from the kilns of 15th-16th century Vietnam enclosed in an age-blackened kiri-wood box. The crackled pale glaze is decorated with a band of blue frets about the rim inside, a decidedly modern design of droplets descending in beads down the outside typical of early Vietnamese decoration...

Porcelain plate made in China for the 17th century Japanese market. Blue and white design of a bird in a pine tree draped in moss. Encircled with a thin ring of blue. The edges of the plate and the many small irregularities in the firing are especially prized in this type of ware. "Ko-sometsuke ('old blue and white') porcelain was produced specifically for the Japanese market during the final decades of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644)...

Porcelain plate made in China for the 17th century Japanese market. Blue and white design of 2 boats in a misty bay with land outcroppings and a mountain pavilion. The underside of the plate is decorated with three thin blue rings and two flowers...

Small porcelain ko-sometsuke plate made in China for the 17th century Japanese market. Blue and white design of three running rabbits. A bird, possibly a phoenix flies in the sky. Around the rim of the plate are four galloping horses. The underside of the plate is decorated with three thin blue rings and a simple dot pattern. The edges of the plate and the many small irregularities in the firing are especially prized in this type of ware...

A finely painted Kakiemon dish of scalloped form painted in under-glaze blue with a pair of auspicious Hoo birds amongst clouds, harbingers of good fortune, with stylised Peony branches. The reverse painted with a classic lotus scroll and a square fuku seal. Dating circa 1680-1700 and a product of the Kama-no Tsuji (Kakiemon) kiln in the Nangawara valley, note the fine pin point spurs and carefully trimmed footrim. The dish measures approximately 21.5cm in diameter, seven suns...

A bizarre pottery mass of two tea bowls and a stand fused together after collapsing in the kiln some four hundred years ago. It is 17 x 13 x 11 cm (6-1/2 x 5 x 4-1/2 inches). There is something to be said here about best laid plans. All the potters craft and experience and yet nature intervenes, creating this vitrified sculpture for later generations to contemplate.

A misshapen bowl excavated and assembled from several pieces using the kintsugi gold technique. Originally a kiln flaw, it was likely destroyed after creation, later to be excavated and assembled as was popular in the later Edo period. Misshapen,and with a large kutsuki on one side, it is 4 x 5 x 3 inches (10 x 12.5 x 8 cm) and comes in a wooden box.

A rare set of three Deshima (Scheveningen) small bowls of lobed lotus petal form, two of which have all the elements of the traditional Deshima pattern, cups in this pattern appear to be exceptionally rare in the literature compared with flat wares, and one with a Chinese interpretation of the scene, where the figures and landscape are transposed into Chinese Immortals and a traditional Chinese style landscape, examples of which appear in the Burghley Collection etc...

Fine Japanese Arita Imari Wucai Dish c.1700. # 1 An attractively decorated dish styled after late Ming wucai enamelled wares, noted for their bold and vivid colouring. A meandering vine with various flowers surround a central kotobuki or good luck character...

Fine Japanese Arita Imari Wucai Dish c.1700. # 2 An attractively decorated dish styled after late Ming wucai enamelled wares, noted for their bold and vivid colouring. A meandering vine with various flowers surround a central kotobuki or good luck character...

A fine so-called “Deshima”, or more likely a scene of Scheveningen in the Netherlands or an imaginary composition based upon it, after an unknown original by Frederik van Frytom. The bowl is decorated with four elements of the pattern, two figures in a field, a female figure with cow held upon a leash, a rider in a landscape, and a “light-house”, beacon upon a hill...

A fine so-called “Deshima”, or more likely a scene of Scheveningen in the Netherlands or an imaginary composition based upon it, after an unknown original by Frederik van Frytom...

A fine so-called “Deshima”, or more likely a scene of Scheveningen in the Netherlands or an imaginary composition based upon it, after an unknown original by Frederik van Frytom. Although this is the most reproduced version in the literature the design is actually a sinofication of the original Dutch landscape. It reproduces the four elements that appear in No 1 and No 2, but the two figures are transposed into a Chinese Scholar and acolyte, probably meant to represent the Chinese poet, Lin ...