631 - An elegant cylindrical paint pot decorated with chickens and chicks alongside dense clusters of flowers, grasses and brocade patterns.

An elegant cylindrical paint pot decorated with chickens and chicks alongside dense clusters of flowers, grasses and brocade patterns. Japan, signed Hasegawa zô 長谷川造, Meiji period H. 9,3 cm Cylindrical paint pot made of delicate, cream-coloured crackled earthenware. Polychrome enamel painting with gold highlights: a cockerel with chicks in front of a pavilion-style structure amidst peonies, chrysanthemums and irises; reverse side featuring a waterfall landscape and flowering branches. Upper rim with a gilded kiku frieze on a black ground; lower rim with a brocade-patterned band in red, green and gold. Base with a painted gold mark in a black rectangular cartouche reading “Hasegawa zô”, two old collection labels. From an old private collection in southern Germany, collected since the 1980s; old handwritten collection label 1136 on the base The mark ‘Hasegawa’ or ‘Hasegawa zô) refers to a Kyoto-based Satsuma workshop from the late Meiji period. Comparable, reliably authenticated pieces- a large lidded vase and a plate with maple leaf decoration - were sold at Bonhams with the attribution ‘Hasegawa Workshop (active late 19th century)’, each bearing a gilded base mark with the same inscription. As with most Kyoto Satsuma workshop names of the period, no verified biographical details are available regarding the bearer of the name; the workshop forms part of the broad spectrum of Kyoto-based studios operating for the Western export market, which, alongside the better-known houses of Kinkôzan and Yasuda, produced items of excellent quality in some cases, as is evident from this brush holder. Well preserved, minimal signs of age.