Glazed ceramic. Japan, Edo – Meiji Period, presumably 19th cent.
A flat, covered dish, lobed five times like a blossom. The underneath is brown and the seam unglazed; the upper side light grey with deliberate irregularities. The upper lid surface shows a folded fan in the center surrounded five times by "curvatures", which depict the Shinto goddess Okame, also called Uzume. She is famous for her chubby cheeks and voluptuous forms, and is a symbol of fortune. Manufacture seal on the bottom.
HEIGHT 2 CM, DM 7,5 CM
From the collection of Jürgen L. Fischer, Ascona, Switzerland
Jürgen L. Fischer was one of the major European collectors of Chinese art. The extensive size of the collection largely owes to the family’s fortune from the invention of the world-famous “Uhu Alleskleber ” in 1932 (the first synthetic resin glue world-wide) by grandfather August Fischer. Jürgen L. Fischer, who lived until 2013, was an avid collector of Chinese porcelain in an astonishing wide variety, in every size and from every time period. Jürgen Fischer passed on his comprehensive knowledge in numerous specialist books – among others, his large and very instructive book about the art of Chinese snuffbottles and also an antiquarian’s guide to Chinese art.