The crackle finish enhances the play of light on the surface and is emblematic of Satsuma wares, but this is Kutani, not Satsuma, which makes this vase somewhat rare.
Classic Satsuma pieces were decorated with care to avoid covering too much of the prized crackle background. In this tradtion, only the front of this vase is decorated with a large spray of five Iris blooms, and a colorful red, blue, green and white Kingfisher (a classic Kutani motif) singing from a perch on the central stem. Iris blooms like these were also characteristic of the mid-Showa period (1930's).
The neck is decorated with gold ornate floral pattern over an azure background with small turquoise colored dots are called aotsubu, which do not appear before the Taisho period. The styles, label and the Kanji marking date this vase to the mid Showa period, about 1930 - 1941.
This piece is very similar to the style and theme of buttons and hairpins that were popular in Japan at that time, and was probably made as a matching piece.
The rim is trimmed with gold and the foot with a gold ring over burgundy.
The bottom of the vase is clearly marked with both a Kanji chop and a label:
The Kanji reads: (right to left, top to bottom)
Ku
Tani (company name)
Ta
Zan (decorator name)
The label reads:
Kutani/Satsuma
Toyo ®
Hand Painted
Toyo Trading Company is the multi-product import company, founded over 50 years ago, that sold both Kutani and Satsuma wares. This is their standard shop sticker for both. Toyo is still operated in Santa Fe Springs, CA by the same Nakayama family as when they first began purchasing finished goods in Japan for distribution to high end home furnishings markets in the US, and put their sticker on this Kutani vase.
