Featured Small porcelain tea set minus the teapot

I've had these about a year now and have yet to find a suitable teapot that would look 'ok' with them.

They're too big for the average dollhouse, and (I think) too small for a child's set ... so would they be considered a child's toy for her dolls to have a tea party?

They look handmade and hand painted ... at least the handles look to be applied by hand because they're uneven and not identical. I'm far from an expert, but to me, they don't look like the typical vintage sets from Japan that I run across fairly often. Can't say much more about them, though ... other than they're awfully cute to look at.

Any opinions on age or origin or anything else having to do with them?

 

Are you going to keep them?

 

That depends. Why?

 

I think Japanese. Quality isn't there for German.
Maybe 1900s - 30s, just guessing at the age. Don't really know.

 

Because maybe I'll watch for your teapot.

 

Yes, exactly that, dolls' tea party set.

Completely forgot until now that as a child I had a whole little boxed set someone gave me. Made in Japan, too big for doll house, too small for children.

 

That's nice of you to offer , but I feel this quest is mine and mine alone.

 

See just how little I know?
It's the hand formed and hand applied handles on the pieces that were throwing me off. Maybe I just haven't yet run across sets made in Japan that were old enough to look like this ...

 

I agree with cluttered - Japanese sometime around the Depression era. The color scheme (blue, red, green on white) is pretty common for Japanese dishes. The handles probably were hand formed as labor was very cheap. It's possible that only the teapot was marked and if marked only read "JAPAN." Finding the pot will be more a matter of luck than anything else. These are one of those items that poured into the US from Japan in almost unlimited quantities. I used to be able to pick up shoe boxes of these at auction but not so much lately. Just as well, there was little market for them.
Don

 

WELL!!!
I NEVER!!!!