A highly important and exceptionally fine Kakiemon Maru-ni-mitsu-ichō (Three Ginko Leaves Entwined) moulded nigoshide porcelain dish, exquisitely enamelled with a serene view of Matsushima Bay showcasing two delicate pine and maple groves to the foreground and three sailing ships on the distant horizon returning to the shore
 
Arita, Kakiemon kiln, Hizen province, Japan
Edo period, Enpō era
circa 1670
 
PROVENANCE
Sold at Christie's (London) 14 June 1989, Important Japanese Works of Art, lot 31: AN IMPORTANT AND RARE CHRYSANTHEMUM-SHAPED MOULDED KAKIEMON DISH decorated in iron-red, yellow, blue and black enamels, with a trio of fishing vessels off shore covered with pine and maple, the centre with a moulded trefoil, the sides with six leaves, chocolate rim, ring foot, circa 1670, 17.5cm diam. Estimate £40,000-60,000. Price achieved: £66,000.
 
MEASUREMENTS
17.7cm diameter; 2.7cm high
 
CONDITION
In truly remarkable, pristine original condition. A museum-quality example of sublime beauty.
 
NOTE
According to Oliver Impey "this rare dish is an example of Kakiemon ware at its finest. It is painted with a highly stylized design of pine-covered island and boats at sea that almost certainly represents the scenery of Matsushima Bay".
 
DESCRIPTION
The circular milky-white nigoshi-de porcelain dish with twenty-one variously sized rim lobes glazed in fuchi-beni (iron-oxide), superbly press-moulded with three large overlapping ginkgo leaves to create a traditional Japanese motif and family crest known as Maru-ni-mitsu-ichō (丸に三つ銀杏) which translates to 'Encircled Three Ginkos'. During the 17th century, the Maru-ni-mitsu-ichō crest was primarily used by retainers of the Tokugawa Shogunate and various families tracing their roots to the Fujiwara and Minamoto clans. The crest was used by the Manabe Family who were daimyo (feudal lords) of the Sabae Domain, and notably for Manabe Akifusa (間部 詮房; June 18, 1666 – August 7, 1720), who wielded great power as a shogunate attendant in the mid-Edo period. 
The velvety glazed surface enamelled with a sublime view from Matsushima Bay (one of Japan's three celebrated locations of natural beauty), featuring a lookout vantage point with groves of maples and pines in the foreground and three traditional Japanese bezaisen sailing ships on the horizon, returning to the shore.
 
The Japanese ceramics historian Hayashiya Seizo (1928-2017) identified the scene depicted in this dish as the bay of Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, one the Three Views of Japan (Nihon sankei), renowned for its striking cluster of small islands strewn with pine and coastal groves.
 
This masterfully moulded and lobed circular dish was produced using the finest nigoshi-de milky white porcelain with a pearly white luminescent glaze. The nigoshi-de 濁手 body is the whitest of all Japanese porcelain and was used for only the most superior enamelled wares of this period. This 'milk white' body, composed of kaolin and petunste, achieved purity through a time-consuming process in which the Arita potters repeatedly levigated and washed the clay. Only open shapes (dishes, bowls) were made using the nigoshi-de body, and underglaze blue decoration was never used on this porcelain; only overglaze enamelling sometimes highlighted by hints of gilding.
 
Some very refined late 17th/early 18th century pieces using the nigoshi-de body were first thrown on the potter’s wheel and then press-moulded using either ceramic or wooden moulds, such as the present truly outstanding example. Numerous sherds of nigoshi-de porcelain with relief-moulded patterns were excavated from the Kakiemon kiln site. A 1999 publication by the Kyushu Ceramic Museum refers to several press-moulds preserved at the Kakiemon kiln, the earliest of these existing moulds being dated 1685.