Satsuma?

Any ideas or information about this vase would be appreciated. It's about 8" tall, has no marks on the base and is missing gold paint (it did not like a gentle wash.) It's not a particularly pretty thing, but the detail seems extreme. It's quite heavy and thicker than my other very humble Satsuma vases, but there seems to be no real sense or symmetry to the decoration -- just a madness of detail. It has a front (the flowers) and a back (the writing), but no other organisation that I can see. Thanks

 

Interesting looking. Qualifying as NOT an expert, I have no idea how to date this, but I did notice a few things:

Image 1 The gold line work on the blue leaves look thick in proportion to the leaves, and the two orange mumms look faint in comparison to the white one. It may be your lighting, but all the elements should look more uniform overall.

Image 3 The large characters look to have been traced

You're right, the crazy detail is kind of interesting, but those above would make me think it is not super-high quality - it may have been done by several different people.

Image 4 Is that a real crack in the upper left image, on the neck? But, that emblem on the neck is nice.

 

I forgot to say Hi!

 

Thanks Scoutshouse, and hello to you. It's an interesting notion that several people might have worked on it -- a case of too many cooks, perhaps. The crack is certainly old and the white chrysanthemums are beautiful, but proportion elsewhere is dubious. I'm rather hoping someone will be able to make sense of the writing. "For darling granny, from Jimmy, aged 12", perhaps. I've enclosed a few more photos. This site is addictive when you're as ignorant as I am. Thanks for looking.

 

On Asian inscriptions, the interesting bits --such as name, date, and place -- are almost always at the far left, with the inscription itself most commonly just some trite sentiments. So it's important that photos show everything on the left clearly.

 

Voila ?

 

The two large characters are 寿 "longevity" and 福 "good fortune."

The inscription, 春花夏凉秋月冬雪, raises poetic images of spring flowers, summery coolness, the autumn moon and winter snows.

The signature I'm not clear about, but it may read 吟松, read Ginshou (Ginsyo) in Japanese.

There is a 吟松 Ginsyo Satsuma kiln, but it specializes in ware with a black body; it may of course have produced different ware in the past, or there may be no connection at all.

http://ibusukiroyalhotel.co.jp.e.ik.hp.transer.com/ginsyo/

 

I'm sorry there's no indication of age. You have been most generous with your time and knowledge, khl889, and I really appreciate it. Thank you.

 

Ouch! How dare you call yourself ignorant!

I'm not an expert - I know what Satsuma is, but not in all it's forms or origins.

Even so, I'm still free to and enjoy using my eyes and curiosity about how well made things are made - those are things that say a lot about the quality, age and authenticity of any object... and it looks like you're just as capable of doing the same! Thanks for sharing