Stunning Pair Traditional Japanese Imari double gourd form hand painted Porcelain Vases of quite compact proportions. First half of the Nineteenth Century.   

The main outer porcelain body with plain glazed surface detail and all over typical decorative Imari palette in colours of iron red and cobalt blue tones on an off-white ground, later mounted on plain circular heavy gauge ormolu bases.    

Height: (entire overall as shown in image one) 11” (28cm). Width: (at widest area) 6" (15cm). Depth: (at widest area) 6" (15cm).   

Condition: Superb condition with no losses. Light wear to gilt highlights. These pieces are typically unmarked. Back and front views are similar. 

Shipped to Islington, London   

Affordable fixed price Worldwide Store to door shipping.  

Imari Ware first began arriving from Japan to Europe in the late 17th century. The elegant porcelain thrilled royals and nobles, and was not only used as high-end crockery but also displayed as status symbols in royal palaces. The mountain village of Okawachiyama and its secret kilns is the best place to explore the history of Imari ware.  

The origins of Japan’s prized Imari ware can be traced back four centuries to Kyushu, when a potter discovered the white kaolin clay essential to producing porcelain in the town of Arita. Arita potters were soon making porcelain and shipping it from nearby Imari Port to other parts of Japan. Despite the source, their products became known as Imari ware—or Imari for short—and porcelain from the Edo period (1603-1867) is collectively referred to as Old Imari ware.  

Today Japanese Imari Antique Porcelain items remain as popular as ever throughout Europe, America and Canada. This is a stunning Pair Urns showing Imari decoration at its very best.