Sold Ceramics - Sold Japanese Imari 1690-1800 - 'Gold' Imari - Page 1

Object 2012425

Chocolate cup with cover and saucer

Japan

1700-1720

Height saucer 23 mm ( 0.91 inch), diameter of rim 145 mm (5.71 inch), diameter of footring 73 mm (2.87 inch), weight 200 grams (7.05 ounce (oz.))

Height cup 74 mm (2.91 inch), diameter of rim 79 mm (3.11 inch), diameter of footring 39 mm (1.54 inch), weight 113 grams (3.99 ounce (oz.))

Height cover 20 mm (0.79 inch), diameter 85 mm (3.35 inch), diameter of ring knob 30 mm (1.18 inch), weight 53 grams (1.87 ounce (oz.))

Tall chocolate cup with cover and saucer on footring, the cup with steep sides. Domed cover with ring knob. 'Gold' Imari, decorated in gold, iron-red and a light-pinkish gold wash with a spray of blossoming pomegranate in a central roundel surrounded by grasses and three groups of flowering plants each with a pair of birds, namely millet and quail, carnation and crested grouse, double camellia and partridge. In between each group a bird in flight. The rim with four panels containing sprays of peony, double magnolia, double chrysanthemum and double camellia. The reverse is undecorated. The cup and cover are decorated en suite.

A group that seems to have been especially favoured in The Netherlands, traditionally called 'Gold Imari', dates to the early 18th century. These wares are painted in gold only, in gold and iron-red, or in gold and red with a few touches of green, aubergine and black. 'Gold Imari' is relatively well represented in collections in the northern parts of The Netherlands but which occurs less often in old English and German collections

From about 1700 the gold often has a pink-violet hue ('pink lustre'), which is clearly visible on the white porcelain background when the gold is very thin or has been rubbed off. It seems that the Japanese enamellers used a different process to the Chinese, because Chinese pieces do not have this pink violet hue. (Jörg 2003/1, pp.92-93)

Tall cups with covers are usually called chocolate cups, although there is no firm proof they were used as such. However, English sale records of the early 18th century mention 'Japan chocolate cups' covers and saucers (Godden 1979), a description appropriate to this shape. Chocolate was a fashionable drink at the end of the 17th century, although it never became as popular as tea and coffee. It was served with a foamy milk top, which meant that the cups had to be tall. The cover kept the drink warm. Chocolate cups are relatively rare. (Jörg 2003/1, p.202)

In the collection of Oriental Ceramics of the Groninger Museum is a identically decorated teaset that consists of an identical teapot / hot water pot, six cups and saucers for tea or coffee, six chocolate cups with covers and saucers, a bowl with an overturned rim that might have been a sugar bowl and a ewer which may have been used as a milk jug but could also have been a condiment jug in a dinner set with the same design of which parts are also in the Groninger Museum. The set entered the Groninger Museum in 1899 as a bequest of the local collector, Mr. Mello Backer. Some sherds of similar wares have been excavated at Deshima. (Jörg 2003/1, p.201)

For the identically decorated teaset (including the large teapot / hot water pot) in the collection of Oriental ceramics of the Groninger Museum, please see:

Condition: Wear to the decoration on the inside of the cover. A firing flaw to the saucer. A hairline to the cup and tree chips to the rim of the cover.

References:

Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 237

Arita 2000, cat. 84

Düsseldorf 2000, cat. 10

Impey 2002, cat. 443 & 444

Jörg 2003/1, pp.92-93, p.202 & cat. 124 & 256

Campen & Eliëns 2014, Fig. 9

Price: Sold.