SOLD.
An extremely rare proto-Kakiemon Early Enamelled Ware ‘Willow World’ jar and cover, of squat ovoid vase form with short neck, painted with fluid artistry in a very early palette of vibrant green and blue enamels, black outlining and deep iron-red featuring a continuous landscape scene with a pair of row boats in a bay and small huts on a promontory beneath cascading willow and pine trees
 
Early Enamelled ware, Proto Kakiemon type enamelling, Arita kiln, Hizen province, Japan
Edo period (mid 17th century)
circa 1650
 
Note
A similar example of this exceedingly rare jar can be found in The Ashmolean Museum (Oxford), Reitlinger gift, noted by Dr. Oliver Impey as "a very rare small version of the jar....early enamelled ware....landscape with sketchy indications of hills, pines, drying nets, junks and willow tree" (Impey Japanese Export Porcelain, 2002, p.70).
 
Description
An exceptionally rare proto Kakiemon Early Enamelled Ware jar / vase and cover, of squat ovoid form with short neck, painted with fluid artistry in very early vibrant green and blue enamels, black outlining and deep iron-red featuring a continuous lake scene with a pair of row boats in a bay and small huts on a promontory dotted with spruce and pine trees, all beneath the cascading branches of a willow tree. An iron-red continuous hatched band around the shoulder, concentric iron-red rings around the lower section and footrim. The cover similarly decorated with a "Willow World" continuous landscape scene bordered by concentric iron-red rings, the squat knop undecorated. It is notable that the enamels of this early example lack the later, oft-used yellow enamel, which is present in the slightly later comparable jar at The Gardiner Museum (Toronto, Canada).
 
The design of this early proto Kakiemon jar and cover is clearly ancestral to the later Kakiemon Early Enamelled jar (lacking cover) at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art (G04.18.33 Macdonald collection; Toronto, Canada) illustrated in Impey, Oliver & Christiaan Jorg "Dragons, Tigers & Bamboo: Japanese Porcelain and its Impact in Europe" (Toronto) pg. 84, in which it is noted that the lakeside scene is "reminiscent of the Kano school of painting....The Kano tradition was particularly associated with the samurai class during the seventeenth century....and was used by porcelain decorators for both the domestic and export markets" (pg.84). The Gardiner Museum vase dated to circa 1660 showcases the same continuous lake side scene with cascading willow branches in overglaze blue and iron-red with black outlining above rocky promontories and islands dotted with spruce and pine trees, fishing boats and nets, concentric iron-red rings around the base of the landscape and around the foot, the neck with a simple cross-hatched band echoing the iron-red band on the shoulder of the present small proto Kakiemon jar and cover. The Gardiner example includes a pale dirty yellow enamel which is absent from the present proto Kakiemon jar and cover.
 
The application of the enamels is also similar to a slightly later, Kakiemon Early Enamelled bowl with pine & bamboo design at the Gardiner Museum (Macdonald Collection G04.18.36; Toronto, Canada) particularly the painterly application of the blue and green enamels used to render a hillside landscape design.
 
The application of the enamels and the porcelain body also similar to a pair of Early Enamelled Ware landscape bowls sold at Bonhams (Old Bond St, London) Fine Japanese Art, 6 November 2007, lot 348 "Early porcelain - A pair of matching Kakiemon bowls c1650-70".
 
Storage
With a Japanese paulownia wood storage box and ribbon tie.
 
Measurements
12.0 cm high, 9.0 cm wide
 
Condition
In original unrestored condition with losses to some areas of the enamels, a very old chip to the footrim, otherwise excellent condition.