AN UNUSUAL JAPANESE SATSUMA VASE BY KINKOZAN

MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

The pear-shaped chocolate-brown body decorated in gilt with a writhing dragon amongst flaming wisps, the mythical beast holding a pearl of wisdom between its claws, with details highlighted in silver and red enamels, the reverse with the coate of a tennin and signed Kinkozan zo, 9.3cm.

Provenance: from the collection of Richard Gordon Smith (1858-1918) and thence by descent. Gordon Smith was an English traveller, sportsman and naturalist who lived in Japan at the turn of the century, recording his experience in his "Ill-Spelled Diaries" and transcribing traditional myths which he later published in "Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan" (1908). Entries from his diaries were later published in "Travels in the Land of the Gods: The Japan Diaries of Richard Gordon Smith" (1986).

See Bonhams London, 10th November 2011, lot 344, for a related vase by Kinkozan with the dragon facing the opposite way.