japanese or not

hi all,
found this recently and picked it up assuming perhaps it was old imari?
It has stilt marks, even on inside!, very dark cobalt blue, hand painted, smooth glazed foot rim, bluish white background colour spotted with blue, no sigantures but has an impressed mark which looks strangely familiar. The more I stare at the mark the more it seems to show a flower in the centre with writing around but maybe thats just my brain freezing up. It felt old but maybe a copy, or english flow blue style? It has a flaw on one side where the glaze seems to have separated horizontally during firing, so I'm surprised it passed the usual rigorous japanese quality control, adding to my doubts...
Grateful for any suggestions as my searching isn't yielding any results.

 

It could be English pottery - looks like a ship's anchor to me. Foot rim looks glazed as well.

 

It's British, I'd say. Staffordshire knot shape, I'd say. Can you get a bit of coffee or something rubbed in the mark?

Edit. Not a knot, but an anchor in a garter frame.

 

Impressed marks can be a real headache, in my opinion, you feel you should be able to read them but the glaze makes it impossible. I am guessing this is English, imitating Japanese designs, and rather nicely done, probably hand painted. The bluish tinge to the edge of the underneath rim means it could be pearlware and fairly early. If small, it could be a saucer dish for a tea bowl. Just my guess. I think it isn't an anchor but possibly a wreath type mark, with the maker's information around the inside, illegible (but you might find increasing the contrast in the photo helpful), and some kind of design inside the oval. If you have a lot of time to spare you could browse through a copy of a book like Godden's Encyclopedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks to find something similar, and then look up the items made by likely potteries. I might have a look myself if insomnia sets in again! Good luck, I think it's just a little thing - is it a saucer or a plate? - but in nice condition, and someone put a lot of work into it. Many early pearlware items are very difficult to identify, but this has a mark, so eventually it will be found!

 

Here it is. I was seeing a flower, too, but no. https://www.matesoundthepump.com/blog/john-carr-sons-impress

 

fantastic ! well done, its clear that that is the exact mark and now I know what it says its easy to 'read'

Well at least its old and its the old stuff I like...

thanks again all for sharing your knowledge !
Barry