SAIKANZAN: AN IZUSHI-WARE PORCELAIN VASE DEPICTING A SMALL VILLAGE By Saikanzan, signed Saikanzan sei Japan, Izushi, Hyogo prefecture, 19th century The rectangular vase with a baluster shape supported on a flat base, two flange handles, and a flat rim. The main sides finely modeled, one side with a walled village and the other with a small hut beneath tall trees. The narrower sides decorated with butterflies and peaches on a spiral ground. The rim of the base with a mark in underglaze blue SAIKANZAN sei [made by Saikanzan]. HEIGHT 19 cm Condition: Good condition with minor wear, few firing flaws including minor pitting, small chips to edges, and the base restored. Provenance: Collection of Florine Langweil. Collection of the Mulhouse Museum of Fine Arts, Mulhouse, France, acquired from the above. An old shop label to the interior of the vase, ‘Mon. F. Langweil, No. 24, Prix., Collections Anciennes Dela Chine & Du Japan, 26 Place St. Georges. Paris.’ Two other collection numbers appear on the vase: ‘328’ and AD. 974.325.1.’ Florine Langweil (1861-1958) was a prominent dealer of Japanese and Chinese ceramics in the Parisian art market at the turn of the century. After opening up a gallery at the height of the aesthetic Japanism craze, she became on of the most prominent female art dealers in the trade. The Mulhouse Museum of Fine Arts is a part of the Société Industrielle de Mulhouse, an industrial society for the promotion of manufacturing and entrepreneurship founded in 1826. The museum was founded by the Society in 1864 with the donation of local members and is located in the hometown of Florine Langweil. Much of the museum’s collection was confiscated during World War II, and due these losses and damages sustained during the war, the museum did not reopen until 1958.