Page 57 - Christie's The Joseph Collection of Japanese Art

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A RARE SHOKI IMARI CUP
EDO PERIOD (EARLY-MID 17TH CENTURY)
初期伊万里染付寿字文猪口
江戸時代（17世紀前中期）
The vertically faceted, slightly everted form on a ringfoot, each facet decorated
in underglaze blue with a column of four ju or kotobuki characters [longevity],
circumferential lines around the rim and foot, the Chinese style characters dai min
to the base
8.2cm. high
£3,000-4,000 $5,100-6,700
€3,700-4,900

The character ju or kotobuki has multiple auspicious meanings such as ‘longevity’,
‘felicitations’, ‘congratulations’ and ‘best wishes’ and has been popular as a motif
on porcelain. The design with vertical columns of repeated auspicious characters
are seen in some shoki Imari works. For other such examples, see:
Ohashi Koji, Koimari no monyo: shoki Hizen jiki o chushin ni [Designs of Koimari:
mainly from Hizen ware], (Tokyo, 1994), p.291
The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Shibata korekushon somokuroku [Complete
Catalogue of Shibata Collection], (Kyushu, 2003), p.9, no.10 and p.11, no.28
Ogi Ichiro and Murakami Nobuyuki, Imari Tanjo to tenkai: Sosei kara sono hatten no
ato o miru (Tokyo, 1998), p. 56-57, pl. 69
John Ayers, Oliver Impey, et al., Porcelain for Palaces: The Fashion for Japan in
Europe 1650-1750, (London, 1990), p.87, no.21
Oliver Impey, The Early Porcelain Kilns of Japan: Arita in the First Half of the
Seventeenth Century, (Oxford, 1996), p.30 (the Ashmolean Museum collection) (base)
Yamashita Sakuro, Shoki no Imari, (Tokyo, 1971), no. 110

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