Exquisite repairs in overlapping gold wave designs on colored lacquer drape upon the rim of this 17th century chawan tea bowl. The white clay is covered with millet colored glaze upon which have been scrawled simple designs like the character for person (hito). The bowl is 10.5 x 10 x 6 cm (4-1/4 x 4 x 2-1/2 inches) and is in excellent condition, in a modern kiri-wood collectors’ box.

Antique Japanese scroll painting depicting a dead man being whisked away in a flaming carriage bound for hell. He is escorted by three demons brandishing weapons and pulling the cart through clouds of smoke. A section of the poem translates as "whether old or young, rich or poor [...] on the fiery carriage..." Painted and signed by the artist Kawamura Jakushi (1638-1707) with a verse possibly written by Banjisei. Kawamura Jakushi was closely associated with the powerful Ryuzoji Family in Sa...

Japanese antique Tsutsu chawan (tea bowl) with yellow crackle glaze. The bottom displays lovely glaze drips. Raku school, Kyoto. Very rare tea bowl. Evaluated by TZ Shiota (#12) in 1930's when the family inheritied the collection from their great grandfather.

Age: 17th century.

Dimensions: 4 1/4" high x 3 5/8" wide

Provenance: From the personal collection of Frederic Cheever Torrey (1864-1935), partner of Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, interior design firm and art g...

Chinese antique tea bowl with crackle celadon glaze. Old cracks and repairs, residue from use. Evaluation TZ Shiota from 1930's (#27).

Age: Song Dynasty AD960-1279

Dimensions: 1 3/4" high x 4 5/8" wide

Provenance: From the personal collection of Frederic Cheever Torrey (1864-1935), partner of Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, interior design firm and art gallery founded in San Francisco in 1888.
The gallery, most famous for its role in helping to introduce California...

Length: 10 cm (4 in)
Height: 6.5 cm (2.6 in)
Depth: 4.7 cm (1.9 in)
Weight: 230 gms

Rare Chinese Ming Period bronze water dropper of a young reclining buffalo; a wrapped scroll (a symbol of knowledge in Chinese culture) rests on the beast’s back; good patina; missing tip of tail; good condition

Cabinet in black lacquered wood. Decor of plants in gilding and mother-of-pearl inlay. The mounts are incised and gilded copper. Two doors conceal a series of drawers and a small door. The small handles of the drawers are in cast bronze as well as the handles. On the top is represented in mother-of-pearl Mount Fuji partly concealed by clouds. This type of lacquer called "Namban" was manufactured in Japan for export at the beginning of the 17th century, either at the end of Momoyama or at the ver...

An exceptional web of gold interspersed with nishiki-cloth patterned designs on gold lacquer fuses this once broken 16th-17th century Koro with ami-me net patterned solid silver lid. This was likely originally made as a tea cup, considering that the entire interior is glazed. Broken and reassembled using the Kintsugi gold technique and placing unusual patterns on the missing portions, this is an exceptional work of art. The silver lid was likely made when it was repaired and repurposed as an ...

This plate was made in the famous kiln Jindezhen in 17th century Ming dynasty by the order from Japan. Japanese dilletante generally don't like the perfection of the art works. Japanese intellectuals in the old time had been enjoyed the fault on the edge , they called it "mushikui" as worm-eaten. The fault on the edge is caused of the character of the clay not of incident They would feel wabi-sabi mood on it. The pattern on plate is depicted ”鍾馗 Shohki" Zhong Kui. Certification: by Norik...

Hard to find nowadays: fairly shoe shaped (kutsugata) tea bowl, made of light, coarse, unrefined Mino clay. The expertly thrown body was covered with a potter's knife in its shoulder and around the foot ring.

The brim of this bowl covered with a green copper oxide glaze and the lower part was left unglazed and decorated in iron oxide with buddhist wheel of law on two opposite sides over which finally a transparent ash glaze was applied. The wheels were additionally highlighted with...

Two small Blanc-de-Chine hand modelled porcelain figures dating to the Kangxi period. One showing a group with a beardy man besides two dancing ladies, standing on a floor with a hexagonal pattern. The other is a joss stick holder in the shape of a foo dog or Buddhist lion. Condition: some losses (one arm of a meiren and one ear of the animal), chips, hairlines, cracks, the figural group with traces of former coloring and firing defects. Dimension: height: c. 10 cm and 7 cm, 8 cm and 6.5 cm long...

Also known as "The Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life,” here in this pre-Edo Buddhist painting we see Amida and his two assistant bodhisattvas, Seishi on the left (associated with wisdom and strength), and Kannon on the right (associated with compassion and mercy), descending from the Western Pure Land to welcome newly deceased believers into the realm of paradise. In this practice known as raigō, the faithful are transported via the small lotus pedestal the Kannon holds in his...

Rare Chinese Ming Dynasty Monochrome Moulded Porcelain Wine Cup

This rare porcelain wine cup was made during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) or possibly a little earlier. To the lower body is a band of moulded Buddhist rui lappets together with a moulded seal mark within the foot. The white porcelain body is particularly translucent, highly-fired with a high-pitched ring when tapped.

Diameter 5.5 cm, height 3.5 cm. It is in fine condition with minimal surface wear and no restoration or re...

Tall Chinese Ming Dynasty Glazed & Painted Pottery Figure

This attractive pottery figure of an official was made during the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368 - 1644). It is made from a relatively highly-fired creamy-white pottery. The clothing has been coated in green and amber glazes whilst the integral base and separate head have been cold-painted in black, red and white pigments. The figure wears a flowing robe, belted at the waist, and a tall hat. In the sleeve ends there would originally have been ...

Chinese Ming Dynasty Glazed Pottery Chair (16th Century)

This rare and very nice pottery model of a folding armchair with a horseshoe back was made in the second half of the 16th century (c. 1550 - 1600). It is made from a relatively highly-fired red pottery that has been partially glazed in green and amber glazes. In places the surface of the glaze has acquired a silvery iridescence through long exposure to moisture. The seat, and other parts, remain unglazed and has been decorated with an ...

LARGE Chinese Ming Dynasty Glazed Pottery Tile - Ox

This impressive and highly decorative pottery tile was made during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). It depicts an ox with a bell around its neck, clouds and the sun, and would have been one of a frieze on a wall comprising several similar tiles. It has been coated in various glazes of attractive colours. By their very nature, the majority of such tiles have been repaired (including most examples on display in public museums): although not i...

Small Chinese Ming Dynasty Monochrome Moulded Porcelain Dish

This small and unusual porcelain dish was made during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). It has a foliated rim and moulded "ribs" to its underside. It is coated in a pale glaze that has just a hint of green to it. The thickness of the glaze varies in places, at its thickest it is slightly crackled, at its thinnest it has flaked from the surface a little. The centre of the dish has four firing marks and a lightly incised ring. It is pa...

Rare Japanese 6 panel-screen in ink, color pigments and gold leaf. On the second screen, on the last panel on the left, one can distinguish many Tartar warriors hunting as well as falconers on horseback. On the rightmost three panels, a lake and rice paddies, a variety of wild birds, all against a backdrop of mountains, waterfalls and trees in the style of the Kano school interspersed with clouds of gold and gold flecks. These Tartars (or Tatars) are identifiable by their dashing equestrian p...

Chawan, tea bowl to be used in the tea ceremony, of distorted oval shape (kutsu or clog, or shoe-shape). Thick cream-colored stoneware that turned red during firing in the unglazed area, covered with a translucent greenish ash glaze that collected in the bottom and around the rim and is very thin around the sides. The sides are ‘rough’, giving a look into the clay.

Japan, Seto region, very early Edo period.

H 3 x W 5.5 in.

Excellent condition

Comes with a red silk po...