A GOOD JAPANESE SATSUMA TRAY BY FUZAN MEIJI PERIOD

A GOOD JAPANESE SATSUMA TRAY BY FUZAN

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

Richly painted in gilt and polychrome, the well with a large rectangular panel enclosing many beauties in a luxuriant garden, a river to the side and Mount Fuji towering in the distance, the figures in the foreground engaged in a game of kemari involving brocade balls, temari, one man on the floor among them, with further figures observing from a veranda behind, the border with brocade patterns, flowerheads, shippo-tsunagi cash patterns and other geometrical designs, the underside with further chrysanthemum blooms, the short foot painted with a thin band of dentils and signed Fuzan to the base, 15cm x 23.9cm.

Provenance: an English private collection, London.

The idea of the game of kemari is to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible.