219 - MAKUZU KOZAN I: A SUPERB UNDERGLAZE-BLUE PORCELAIN ‘MISTY MOUNTAINS’ VASE

MAKUZU KOZAN I: A SUPERB UNDERGLAZE-BLUE PORCELAIN ‘MISTY MOUNTAINS’ VASE By Makuzu Kozan I (1842-1916), signed Makuzu Kozan sei Japan, c. 1900-1915, Meiji (1868-1912) to early Taisho period (1912-1926) Finely potted, the tall baluster body rising from a short, splayed foot through high, angular shoulders to a waisted neck with a broad circular mouth and thick-lipped rim. The exterior masterfully painted in varying shades of cobalt blue beneath a clear transparent glaze, depicting a meandering stream flowing between rocky, pine-studded banks, with distant mountains gradually dissolving into delicate mist. The underside signed within a rectangular reserve in underglaze blue MAKUZU KOZAN sei [made by Makuzu Kozan]. HEIGHT 30.7 cm Provenance: A private collection in Hampshire, United Kingdom, thence by descent. Woolley & Wallis, Japanese Works of Art, 7 December 2020, Salisbury, lot 255. A private collection in the United Kingdom, acquired from the above. Inventory no. ‘A. 1971’ inscribed underneath. Condition: Excellent condition, with no restorations or repairs visible under UV light. Makuzu Kozan I (1842-1916), also known as Miyagawa Kozan, moved from Kyoto to Yokohama in 1870, where he established his celebrated ceramics workshop. His early works, often inspired by earlier Japanese and Chinese ceramics, quickly found favor with Western collectors, while his technical virtuosity also earned him great acclaim in Japan. In 1896, he was appointed Artist to the Imperial Household. In his later career, Kozan increasingly turned to porcelain and underglaze decoration, drawing particularly on the blue-and-white traditions of China. On the present vase, cobalt is handled less as linear ornament than as a painterly medium: pale washes, deeper accents, and areas of exposed white create remarkable atmospheric recession, allowing the riverbanks, pines, and distant mountains to dissolve gradually into mist. Museum comparison: Compare a closely related underglaze-blue porcelain vase by Makuzu Kozan, dated c. 1900-1916, 29.5 cm high, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number FE.22-1981. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related underglaze-blue vase with a similar landscape design, dated c. 1910-1915, 36.6 cm high, signed Makuzu Kozan sei, illustrated in Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art. Treasures of Imperial Japan. Ceramics Part I, 1995, no. 45. Auction comparison: Compare a closely related underglaze-blue porcelain vase, decorated with Mount Fuji among pine-studded hills, by Makuzu Kozan, dated c. 1900, 35.8 cm high, at Christie’s, Japanese and Korean Art, 19 September 2000, New York, lot 129 (sold for USD 5,640 or approx. EUR 9,300 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).