Japanese Arita Blue and White Kraak Dish – Edo Period, late 17th

A 17th Century Japanese Blue and White Porcelain Dish in the Kraak Style, Arita Kilns 1670 – 1680.
Decorated in underglaze blue with flowering chrysanthemums growing from behind a fence and flowering peonies growing from pierced rockwork enclosed by a double concentric band. The sides and rim in Chinese kraak style with six wide panels filled with bamboo, peony and prunus, separated from each other by narrow panels filled with a floret between scrolls on a blue ground. This rim decoration is rarely seen together with this specific central scene though, as it is usually combined with a flowing, typical Japanese karakusa scroll border.

The Kraak style border is similar to those made with the emblem of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, (V.O.C. or Dutch East India Company) and early Japanese armorial ware (Pancras-de Vicq), Therefore, it probably can be dated slightly earlier (1670-80).

Japanese porcelain dishes of this type were made in Japan to fill a gap in the market after the V.O.C. stopped ordering Kraak porcelain in the 1650’s.

Christiaan J.A. Jörg in Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections (Christian J.A. Jörg, Hotei Publishing, 2003. ISBN 90-74822-16-9. Page 225, plate 285 ).