Japanese Ceramic Trademarks

Turn the pottery piece over to view the maker s mark.

Japanese ceramic trademarks.

In english it means dragon peak. Also any piece bearing a nippon mark is either a pre 1921 piece or a modern piece that re adopted the mark. Japanese ceramic history has it that stones suitable for porcelain making was found in the kutani mine of the daishoji clan whereupon lord maeda toshiharu sent goto saijiro to the arita village in the hizen province to learn how to make porcelain. It is a modern late 20th century mark.

During world war ii most ceramics factories for exports ceased except noritake see japanese ceramics of the last 100 years by irene stitt pg 167. Kilns have produced earthenware pottery stoneware glazed pottery glazed stoneware porcelain and blue and white ware japan has an exceptionally long and successful history of ceramic production. There are a few ways to help identify japanese pottery marks which are called kamajirushi. Arita porcelain food rice bowl with japanese imari decoration.

Most schools mark their pottery. This mark was mainly used during the meiji period from 1868 1912. Pottery and porcelain 陶磁器 tōjiki also 焼きもの yakimono or 陶芸 tōgei is one of the oldest japanese crafts and art forms dating back to the neolithic period. Thereafter he amassed displays at every exhibition and repeatedly amassed various awards such as the japan kogei association s presidential prize in 1971 the japan ceramic art exhibition s top prize in 1973 the 1974 japan ceramics society prize the 1975 japan traditional kogei exhibition nhk members prize the 1986 fujiwara kei memorial.

It is harder to do research since returning to the usa but the passion remains. It is also safe to date any japanese pottery and porcelain with marks in english to the late 17th century on. Ryu ho is a house brand of porcelain manufacturer sanyo toki based in gifu japan. During this period japan moved from being an isolated society to one with more open trade where this one of the earliest trade marks not imitating a chinese imperial nian hao reign mark.

Kutani porcelains from this early period are specifically called ko kutani and are extremely rare. I visited many kilns and researched potters and their marks. After the war exports were labled made in occupied japan. Minton mark c1850 amherst japan paragon china paris porcelain mark bourdoir bloch rosenthal porcelain c1930 royal bonn lyonais c1897 royal bonn sarreguemines mark france wien keramos austrian c1930 mayer sherratt c1906 to 1920 wade pottery mark c1957 onwards gerbing stephan g st c1861 to 1900 louis majorelle makers mark.

Marks may also be found on the side or the lip of the piece. The mark simply saysryu ho 龍峰 and nothing more. I have information on many marks in my files.