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An Arita pear-shaped mug, circa 1680 image 1
An Arita pear-shaped mug, circa 1680 image 2
An Arita pear-shaped mug, circa 1680 image 3
An Arita pear-shaped mug, circa 1680 image 4
An Arita pear-shaped mug, circa 1680 image 5
Lot 123

An Arita pear-shaped mug, circa 1680

1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£1,000 - £1,500

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An Arita pear-shaped mug, circa 1680

Decorated in underglaze-blue and Kakiemon-style polychrome enamels with panels of karakusa scrollwork pierced with stylized flowerheads in iron-red, the panels filled with larger polychrome flowering sprays of irises, 10.4cm high

Footnotes

Provenance
With Robert McPherson Antiques, 2007

Literature
White, Mary, Beasts at the Whites' House, Vol.2, 2021, p.67, fig.b

For another example in a private Dutch collection see C.J.A Jörd, Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, 2003, p.169, no.201.

In Japanese art, irises (shōbu) symbolize courage, strength, and purity due to wordplay on the name and their resemblance to 'swords'.

Additional information