
This Japanese Satsuma plate I found at a local antique fair.

This amazing dish is super-saturated with decoration all done by hand by an artist in the late Meiji era (19th Century). Each of the butterflies that flutter about on the centre of the plate have every individual cell of their wings outlined in gold and the clouds of flowers that crowd around the edge of the plate are and endless joy if you look at each petal and how they have been realised.
How long must it have taken the painter to create the design, draw it first in black, fill in every cell with different coloured glazes, fire it, re-edge every petal and butterfly wing with liquid gold and then fire it again? I could not even begin to guess.
Given that the entire plate is actually only 20cm wide you can start to appreciate just how skillful the artist must have been to complete the design.
Satsuma Ware is the name given to a particular type of Japanese pottery which typically uses coloured glazes and gold over a crackled glaze on a cream coloured earthenware pottery and can be very simply decorated or lavishly intricate as in this example.
Japanese pottery marks are often difficult to trace as they did not follow set conventions and could be the name of the artist, the era, the pottery or even a name for the object.

This is the painted mark on the back of the plate for those who like to know. I would love hear from anyone who can identify the mark.
Bon Weekend!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Intricate
Wonderful!!!!!!! This plate most be worth of a lot of money, not only for its laboriously and perfect work but for being from the 19th. Is it yours? Congratulations….
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It is a plate I found in a local antique fair a while ago. I don’t know how much it is worth but it is a lovely thing to look at. 🙂
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It is gorgeous! Plus It seems the flowers bloomed one by one and are all at a different stage..
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So glad you like it! It is one of those things that make you wonder at the amazing skill of people. 🙂
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And their patience
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Absolutely. And with no modern tools and nothing other than natural light. Amazing!
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Reblogged this on Vintage Voyages – Finding Treasure on a Budget.
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I have just bought a bowl of the internet from America. It is satsuma and has butterflies in the centre. I googled satsuma and butterflies and was lead to the picture of your plate. My bowl doesn’t have a makers mark like yours but is very similar in design. I do however know who the mark is on your plate. It reads Hasegawa which was a long established pottery in Awata region of Kyoto, Japan during the Meiji period (1868-1912). The Hasegawa pottery by the time your plate was produced (c1890) was in the 4th generation. Originally a traditional potter, after Japan opened up to trade with the West they started making pieces for export like these butterfly items.
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Thanks so so much for this information. It really is appreciated. I am thrilled to know about it as I have always thought the workmanship and detail amazing and know that the Japanese produced such fork for the west but am so glad to have the maker revealed. Thanks for taking the time to write. Best wishes from Western Australia!
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