135 - Dish; Japan, Meiji period, c. 1900.

Dish; Japan, Meiji period, c. 1900. Hand-painted Imari porcelain. Measurements: 5 x 31 cm. Dish made of hand-painted and glazed porcelain. The piece stands out for its profuse ornamentation. The main characteristic of the Imari style is the use of underglaze cobalt blue glaze, combined with other glazes over the glaze, mainly iron red and gilding. When it also includes gilding, as we see here, it is called Imari Nishiki. Imari pieces were produced in Japan from the third quarter of the seventeenth century until 1730-35, although there was a revival of the style during the nineteenth century. Decoratively, Imari is very free, with compositions that occupy the entire space of the piece, generally asymmetrical, combining different motifs and cartouches of various shapes, as we see here.