220 - MAKUZU KOZAN I: A FINE UNDERGLAZE-COPPER-RED PORCELAIN ‘DRAGONS AND WAVES’ VASE

MAKUZU KOZAN I: A FINE UNDERGLAZE-COPPER-RED PORCELAIN ‘DRAGONS AND WAVES’ VASE By Makuzu Kozan I (1842-1916), signed Makuzu Kozan sei Japan, c. 1900, Meiji period (1868-1912) Finely potted in a compact handbell form recalling the Chinese yaoling zun, the body with gently flaring lower sides rising to rounded shoulders and a short, subtly waisted neck with a narrow circular mouth. The exterior finely decorated with three writhing dragons painted in underglaze copper-red against a pale celadon-green ground delicately patterned with stylized waves reserved in white, the dragons' eyes picked out in cobalt blue. The underside signed in underglaze blue within a rectangular reserve MAKUZU KOZAN sei [made by Makuzu Kozan]. HEIGHT 9.8 cm 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 drew extensively on Chinese ceramic traditions. The present vase closely recalls Qing dynasty prototypes in both form and decoration, particularly the Kangxi-period yaoling vase preserved in the Guangdong Museum, which similarly combines a compact handbell form with underglaze-red dragons amid stylized waves. Kozan reinterprets this celebrated Chinese vocabulary with remarkable refinement, setting the copper-red dragons against a delicate celadon-green wave ground and accenting their eyes in cobalt blue. Literature comparison: Compare a related vase with a wave design and an underglaze-red dragon, dated c. 1893, 37.6 cm high, signed Dai Nihon 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. 12.