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context: ceramics > porcelain
Styles
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a characteristically-coloured Kutani dish from around 1700 |
There are lots of styles of Japanese porcelain. There is the underglaze blue painting so characteristic of Chinese porcelain. There was an immense amount made for export, extending from the same wares that would be sold in Japan to items made entirely for European tastes, to European designs - this could stretch to tankards with Christian imagery, for instance.
The Kutani kiln was best known for its strong green glaze. Nabeshima made wares for the aristocracy, beautiful smooth items with bold and fresh designs. Sakaida Kizaemon learned enamel overglaze techniques from a Chinese potter in the mid-17th Century, and the Kakiemon wares that he launched were much admired and imitated in the West (by Meissen, Delft and many others).