This crackle finish (click on the thumbnail close up below) enhances the play of light on the surface and is emblematic of Satsuma wares, but this is Kutani, not Satsuma.
Each chawan is decorated with polychrome enamels and gold trim using a combination of screen printing and hand painting with an airbrush over a sand colored crackle finish with a high gloss glaze all over.
This crackle finish (click on the thumbnail close up below) enhances the play of light on the surface and is emblematic of Satsuma wares, but this is Kutani, not Satsuma.
The red Kanji cartouche reads "Kutani", which translates as Nine Valleys, one of the two famous porcelain making regions on Japan's main island of Honshu. Below is the word "JAPAN", in red block letters.
Classic Satsuma pieces were decorated with care to avoid covering too much of the prized crackle background. In this tradition, only the front of each chawan is decorated with three Iris blooms, yellow, blue, and red and a colorful red, blue, green and yellow Kingfisher singing from a perch on their foliage. Both Iris blooms like these and the Kingfisher are classic Kutani motifs and were used extensively during the mid-Showa period (1940's to 1950's).
All five pieces are in excellent condition with no apparent chips, cracks, crazing or repairs, no missing gilt, excellent detail in the hand-painted decorations, and only slight wear.
