Featured Japanese Themed Ceramic Chair aka Throne Hand-Painted Marked

This is a Ceramic Chair aka Throne. It is well-made and quite heavy. It measures approx. 16” high by 12” wide by 8” deep. The theme is Japanese. It has raised surfaces and decorations and appears to be hand-painted/decorated. There is a maker's mark on the bottom as pictured which I cannot make out (and these are the best photographs I can come up with). There is a similar piece on Etsy which is identified as Satsuma. I’m Interested in knowing more about it including what the makers mark reads.

 

Several additional photographs.

 

Bottom line seems to be: MADE IN CHINA

 

Makes sense, because the costumes and hairstyles are Chinese too:



So Chinese-themed, rather than Japanese-themed. Very much an export piece, made for (a certain) Western taste.

 

Some features to note - your chair and the one on etsy are painted differently, but appear to be identical in form. They are both slip cast, which means they were made in a mold and are not "one of a kind". Although the style of painting may be referred to as satsuma, they were not made in Japan. Such decorative pieces have been made in China and are quite modern (mid 20th century and later). I would not put much faith in the etsy seller's description. Among other things, they say their chair is both "vintage from the 1960s" and "1940s".

 

And what would that "certain" taste be? . Bit of an oddity to me. But different strokes for different folks. I think 2manybooks is spot on.

 

It didn't taste good to her.

 

It appears that the first word in the line above "Made in" is "XIONG". There are references as well as photographs to Chinese porcelain using Google.