COLLECTABLES

VASES WHICH BELONGED TO A READERS’ GREAT-GRANDMOTHER ARE EVALUATED.

I INHERITED A VASE

(above left), approximately 50 centimetres high, from my grandmother, which I understand was passed to her from her mother, my great-grandmother. The front features a painted scene and embossed scroll work. The back is simpler, decorated only with a painted rose. We know nothing about it except that it appears to be Japanese from the markings on the base and the style of the scene painted on the front. It has no chips or cracks and the paintwork is still very good. I have a second pair of vases (above right), which my mother bought approximately 55 years ago from an antique store, just because she liked them. They also have ‘Made in Japan’ on the base. Any information you are able to give me regarding these vases would be most appreciated. Kathryn Hede, Merimbula, NSW

These three Japanese vases were made early in the 20th century. The single vase, perhaps originally one of a pair, has more elaborate painted decoration depicting a Japanese house in a landscape with pink iris in the foreground. The decoration seems more aimed to please a foreign market. The pair of vases featuring windmills were obviously made for the European market.

In the early 20th century, Japan was trying to modernise its ceramics industry by making goods for the European and US markets. Cheap ceramics were exported in vast quantities. Most, like the landscape vase, have a simple mark in Japanese script, but from 1915 onwards, export wares were marked ‘Made in Japan’ to meet US import regulations. The pair of vases were probably made in the 1920s or ’30s. They are interesting survivors.

John Mcphee is an art historian who has worked in art museums for 30 years and was curator of Australian Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Australia.

If you have a precious (or simply mysterious) object that puzzles you, send your inquiry, along with a colour print or high-resolution digital image, your suburb or town, and your daytime telephone number, to austcountrystyle@bauer-media.com.au. The photographs must be clear and show the whole object against a white background. Photographs will not be returned, even if they are not published.