Tokkuri or Sake Bottle

Small bottle or tokkuri of white and blue porcelain type, with pyriform shape and long neck, decorated with cobalt blue floral and plant motifs on the cover. This type of blue decoration is called sometsuke in Arita porcelain. It is dated to the Edo period (1615-1868), probably at the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th century. It is produced for export to the West in the kilns of Arita, the main center of Japanese porcelain production, located in the former province of Hizen (now Saga Prefecture) on the southern island of Kyushu. The origin of Arita porcelain dates back to the early 17th century, under the patronage of the feudal lord of Nabeshima, and the production of Arita kilns is also known as Imari porcelain, the name of the port from which these ceramics were exported to Europe by the Dutch, who maintained a monopoly on trade with Japan until the mid-19th century. The great European demand for Chinese porcelain since the 17th century, under the influence of the fashion for chinoiserie, led to a boom in exports of Arita porcelain, which at first imitated the decoration of deep blue motifs on a gleaming white background, characteristic of the prestigious Chinese porcelain of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The decoration of Arita-Imari porcelain was enriched with other colors such as red (aka-e), the success of sometsuke production, in blue and white, never lost its relevance throughout the 17th and 18th centuries (Ko-sometsuke porcelain or old blue and white) and its export was also very important in the Meiji period (1868-1912) and even throughout the 20th century. / Extracted from: ALMAZÁN TOMÁS, D.: “Tokkuri or sake bottle. Edo period (1615-1868). S. XVIII-XIX. Japan”, in Oriente en Granada, Granada, Fundación Caja Rural Granada, 2008, pp. 60-61. PHOTO: Luis Morales Quesada