Featured Asian vases

I purchased these 2 matching hand painted vases from a small shop in Australia about 15 years ago. I believe they are Japanese in origin but am unable to read the mark. You also might notice that when viewed closely side by side that though they match, the top of one vase is somewhat lopsided. There is also a tiny crack just on the top of each vase (does not travel down) which I don’t feel detracts from their beauty but made a huge difference in the price I paid at the time. Any ideas as to origin and approximate age is greatly appreciated.

 

Top two "symbols" say Kutani; maybe you can find it on gotheborg. Click on Japanese marks on the left menu.

 

Gorgeous Kutani ware.

 

@janetpjohn Is correct, they are Japanese Kutani ware. The first two characters read 'Kutani', the final character is 'sei' (made). Date range 1870-1900, the body will be porcelain and the bird roundels are very nice. There isn't a makers mark which means tracing the factory is most unlikely, this is the case with the majority of Kutani ware.

 

Thanks all for the replies. Asian ceramics and porcelains are a favourite of mine. Amazing how one sees the answer once pointed in the right direction. Over the years I have gone half blind looking at Japanese characters on Gotheborg and just like cursive western script, Japanese characters take on an individual's style so I have been close but that second character always stymied me though now it is quite obvious. I doubt I would have ever worked out the final character so a special thanks to Ce BCA. I too like the bird roundels and the gold embellishments.

 

When these were made the workers were on piecework, so the quality of script is often very poor, these are actually better than usual! Someone once told me it is like trying to decipher the equivalent of doctors scrawl in alien. It's one of those things that takes a very long time to start to grasp, even after many years I'm still at the basic level.