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Unusual Chinese Export Porcelain in Japanese Kutani Style

Unusual Chinese Export Porcelain in Japanese Kutani Style


Did you know that Chinese made copies of Japanese Kutani porcelain in the late 19th century? Me neither. After acquiring a unique Chinese dish decorated in typical Kutani style – complete with mock Kutani mark! – I was curious to learn more. However, sifting through literature and searching online didn’t help – there appears to be no mention of these anywhere. One of the curators at V&A told us that they remember Rupert Faulkner, their retired Senior Curator of Japanese Art, mentioning Chinese copies of 19th century Japanese export ceramics in a conversation some years ago. This anecdotal evidence was all I had at this point.

I kept searching and was later able to find additional examples of Canton porcelain decorated in the Kutani style and similar pieces in other collections which are mentioned below. But the question remains – why did they do it? Anthony M. Lee suggested in our original post that this might have been a response of Chinese decorators to increased popularity of Japanese motifs during the craze of Japonisme in Europe in the second half of the 19th century. I personally like that theory and it makes a lot of sense.

Chinese Kutani style decorated porcelain
This is the dish that started our interest in this topic. At first glance just a normal Japanese Kutani plate but you flip it over and realize that this is a 19th century piece of Chinese porcelain typical of Canton export pieces. It is 20 cm in diameter.
Chinese Kutani style decorated porcelain
Detail of the foot.
Chinese Kutani style decorated porcelain
You then have another look at the decoration and realize how different it is from actual Japanese examples when you start examining it closer. All the little details including figure’s face, flowers and diaper background are not consistent with Japanese style. It does appear that this is an attempt to copy Kutani porcelain by someone who was not used to paint this type of decoration. Our first thought was that it might be a porcelain blank that was later decorated in Europe but looking at other examples shown below makes us believe that this was decorated in Canton, China.
This was our second find – a Chinese dish of almost identical form and size, but this time decorated in aka-e Kutani pattern commonly referred to as ‘thousand scholars’. Notice the central medallion with a very typical Chinese bird-and-flower motif. Once again, when you start looking at the details, you will see stylistic differences in the way figures are painted (more on this below). This example doesn’t have any mark on the back so you could argue that rather than being a copy of Japanese Kutani porcelain, it is just a Chinese interpretation of the same pattern.
Two dishes side by side.
Porcelain bodies are of similar size and form with some difference in the colour of the paste.
Even though this second dish isn’t marked, we’ve managed to find another – almost identical – example online with this unusual iron red mark that reads 阜隆 (Fulong).
And another example of the ‘hundred scholars’ pattern on Chinese porcelain, this time on 19th century Canton export vases with characteristic applied chimeras and foo lion handles. Height 25.5 cm. Just like the two dishes above, these were listed as Japanese. In fact, porcelain in this pattern is almost always listed by dealers and auction houses as Japanese. We’ve managed to find only two example identified correctly – the first one by Guinevere Antiques listed as ‘Chinese 1000 Scholars Rouge de Fer Vases’ (dated c. 1880) and the second in Bob & Freek Collection listed as ‘Beautiful 19th c Cantonese porcelain plate with a scene of hundred face’ (dated Guangxu, 1875-1908).
Green enamel residue at the base of one of the vases (right) is very typical of enamels found on 19th century Canton Famille Rose porcelain decorated in Rose Mandarin or Rose Medallion style (left). This would suggest that these ‘rouge de fer’ examples were made by the same studios that produced more typical export pieces.
Miniature examples with applied gilt chimeras. These would originally come with domed lids featuring gilt foo lion finials. Each measures approx. 12.5 cm / 5 inches tall.
Comparison of figures on Chinese and Japanese porcelain. Eyes on Chinese examples are dots, compared to dashes on Japanese ones. Outlines are done in iron red on Chinese examples and in black on Japanese. There is also difference in hairstyles between the two.
And one more dish in the same pattern – this one measures 23.8 cm in diameter, is more thickly potted and has a different type of foot. It again features a bird-and-flower medallion in the middle and two concentric iron red and gilt borders with ‘hundred sholars’ motif between them.
Detail of the foot with traces of kiln grit (click to enlarge).

So, what are your thoughts on this topic? Do you have similar pieces in your collection? Are you aware of any literature mentioning these? We would love to hear from you and learn more! Feel free to contact us at [email protected]

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