Is this a Moriage Box? Date? Any ideas?

I think this is a Japanese moriage box. (I searched the internet for a long time until I found moriage, and I still have not seen anything just like it.) There is no country of origin backstamp, which makes me think it is before 1891. Inside the lid is a paper label, but whatever was on it has disappeared with time.

I inherited it from my mother, but I never saw it around the house when I was growing up so I assume it was a later acquisition. As adults, my parents lived in Ohio, Florida, South Carolina, & North Carolina. They lived for a year (1970) in Shropshire, England, where I think my mother acquired most of her china collection. My mother went to Asia (India, Thailand) and the Middle East (Egypt, Jordan) in 1967 with a Laubach Literacy Tour, but I do not know if they went to Japan. I doubt it, except as a stop over, because they went to areas with low literacy. My father was a Sea Bee in the US Navy during WWII (1941-45), including the Battle of Iwo Jima. I don't know if he was ever stationed in Japan at the end of the war, but I doubt he brought this back because I would have seen it during my childhood.

Or maybe it is not Japanese at all. Mom gave me an English teapot with a bit or moriage decoration on it--but nothing like this. Any ideas? What is it? Where/when is it from?

 

I always got into trouble when I called stuff like this moriage. Slipware is how I would go. Moriage has more of a mat dried dough sort of look. My guess is Japanese.

 

Moriage is a Japanese term meaning "to pile up, to heap up". It is the name for the technique of applying raised decoration using slip and/or enamels, so it can be matte in appearance or glazed.

This type of decoration is characteristic of late 19th-early 20th century Japanese export ware commonly identified as "Satsuma".

 

Japanese. I would call it moriage because of the thickness of the decoration. Thinner lines are tube-lined slip decoration.

 

I have seen the word "Satsuma," but I thought it was a company or maybe a regional name. So it is a TYPE of decoration created by a number of different factories & artisans.

 

Any idea how old it is or where (in Japan) it was created? I wondered if it were by an individual artist, rather than factory-made. It certainly embodies the idea of "heaped up" decoration. I first glance I thought it was overdone, but when I finally learned what it was and how it was made I really started to appreciate it!

I just love clay. I think it is the most versatile art medium.

 

Japanese ceramic styles have often been named (by non-Japanese collectors) for the region in which they were made, or sometimes for the port from which they were shipped. Satsuma is a province on the island of Kyushu in Japan, and ceramics made in the region have a complicated history. Early Satsuma wares were made using a cream colored clay, and had a characteristic glaze with a fine crackle pattern. It was a lower fired clay, classed as "pottery", rather than higher fired stoneware or porcelain. The type of clay body and styles of decoration changed over time, and the more popular types of export ware were copied by kilns in other regions. It has all been called "Satsuma", however, because of similarities in the style of decoration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satsuma_ware

https://www.gotheborg.com/marks/satsuma.shtml

 

I tend to approach things from a market perspective so forgive me if i can't provide much in the way of specifics. I have plenty of reference books but they don't tend to cover this type of ware. If I were selling it I would probably list it as something like "Charming Antique Nippon Moriage Trinket/Dresser Box". Understand that you could be challenged on almost any of these terms but it has to be listed as something. I would date it circa 1900 which seems to be when most of this type of ware was produced. I think the color and decoration would support that. It was considered an inexpensive import and records either were not kept or didn't survive. Styles changed after that but if you search Dragonware you can see this this type of decoration continued to sell, just in a different form. Here in the US it would not be considered particularly rare. The market on all but the best Nippon is not strong at the moment but that could always change. I'd keep it as a family treasure. It's not everyone's taste but I think it serves as a reminder of a simpler time when it was possible to buy an inexpensive but hand decorated gift for someone you loved.

 

If it were for import c. 1900, wouldn't it have been stamped "Nippon" in compliance with the McKinley Tariff Act?
Yes, I think this is one of my "keepers."

 

Usually yes, but as with all things, the rule is not followed exactly.