An elegant cylindrical paint pot decorated with chickens and chicks alongside dense clusters of flowers, grasses and brocade patterns.

Description:

Japan, signed Hasegawa zô 長谷川造, Meiji period
H. 9,3 cm
Cylindrical paint pot made of delicate, cream-coloured crackled earthenware. Polychrome enamel painting with gold highlights: a cockerel with chicks in front of a pavilion-style structure amidst peonies, chrysanthemums and irises; reverse side featuring a waterfall landscape and flowering branches. Upper rim with a gilded kiku frieze on a black ground; lower rim with a brocade-patterned band in red, green and gold. Base with a painted gold mark in a black rectangular cartouche reading “Hasegawa zô”, two old collection labels.
From an old private collection in southern Germany, collected since the 1980s; old handwritten collection label 1136 on the base
The mark ‘Hasegawa’ or ‘Hasegawa zô) refers to a Kyoto-based Satsuma workshop from the late Meiji period. Comparable, reliably authenticated pieces- a large lidded vase and a plate with maple leaf decoration - were sold at Bonhams with the attribution ‘Hasegawa Workshop (active late 19th century)’, each bearing a gilded base mark with the same inscription. As with most Kyoto Satsuma workshop names of the period, no verified biographical details are available regarding the bearer of the name; the workshop forms part of the broad spectrum of Kyoto-based studios operating for the Western export market, which, alongside the better-known houses of Kinkôzan and Yasuda, produced items of excellent quality in some cases, as is evident from this brush holder. Well preserved, minimal signs of age.