Brilliant porcelain across the Pacific Ocean – Old Noritake: Beauty Bridging East & West

[Inscription] M-NIPPON Mark (Green)

[Year of Manufacture] 1911-1921

The Hyōchien ceramics painting workshop was first established in 1876 in Tokyo’s Kōtō Ward (formerly Fukagawa Ward) by KAWAHARA Noritatsu (1845 – 1914), who later served as a secretariat officer for the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair. Because of its high quality and elaborate painting style—called “Hyōchien style”—the workshop acquired an excellent reputation at numerous expositions both at home and abroad, and Noritatsu himself often referred to the workshop as a “Tokyo painting.” The contrast seen in this piece between the overglazed quails and the enameled leaves and fruit is highly attractive.