ANTIQUES & ART IN VICTORIA
THE BEST BOOK ON SATSUMA By Thomas S. Kiernan Over 300 Satsuma marks and signatures This book is truly the best book on Satsuma, with over 300 Satsuma marks and signatures translated to help both the collector and dealer. There are also more than 400 full colour illustrations, making this book a must have for anyone interested in Japanese Satsuma. The author Tom Kiernan is a recognised authority on Japanese antiques and has been dealing in antiques for the last forty-five years! He hopes that this book will help everyone to be able to understand and enjoy the wonderful world of Japanese Satsuma collecting. The book is offered for sale for only $180 which includes postage and packing. It will be signed by the author if requested.
TO ORDER THIS WONDERFUL BOOK Please contact Tom or Linda Kiernan by phone 03 5449 3070 or email: kiernangalleries@iinet.net.au We accept Mastercard and Visa, or send money order or cheque for $180 payable to: Tom Kiernan PO Box 521, Junortoun, Victoria 3551
Japanese Satsuma pottery
SATSUMA pottery origins The production of Satsuma pottery started around 1590 in Satsuma Province on the island of Kyushu in Japan, hence its name. Lord Shiraz Yoshihiro was a local warlord and Prince of Satsuma Province who returned from an attempted invasion of Korea. He brought back valued Korean paintings, lacquer
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PRODUCTION centres Satsuma was produced in Kagoshima, Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, and Kanazawa by hundreds of known artists, in many styles and by literally thousands of unknown decorators. Workshops reportedly hired thousands of workers producing large quantities of Satsuma for export to England, Europe and the USA. As the quality dropped, so did the orders and most large Satsuma workshops closed. A handful of smaller studios continued to produce Satsuma into the 1930s.
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ifty-seven years have passed since I purchased my first Japanese antique. I was just a lad of eleven and attending the East Sydney Art School. My teacher had introduced the class to woodblock printing, showing us several genuine antique Japanese prints to study. I was completely hooked, so I explored the antique shops of Sydney and I actually found a few good examples. I purchased my first two prints for the princely sum of two shillings (40 cents), later discovering at the Sydney museum that they were over 150 years old. The low prices back then were a full set of Samurai armour dating from the 18th century for just $60, a genuine samurai sword was under $10 and netsuke were priced from a couple of dollars up to about $4. Negative sentiments about Japan after WWII kept prices down in Australia. Although Satsuma was plentiful in England and Europe, the main importers of Satsuma around 1900, there was little in Australia. So in 1975 I started to travel to the UK twice a year and found good quality Satsuma to bring to Australia. My shop in Willoughby was the first to specialise in Japanese swords and antiques in Australia.
century the quality of much of the work signed Kinkozan was of inferior quality.
Hododa lidded koro with signature
Tomo Nobu shi shi vase, Gosu blue with signature
ware, carvings and prisoners of war, the latter seized for their skills such as carpenters, artists and potters. Yoshihiro had a personal interest in pottery and had become fascinated with the Korean style. He intended to set up kilns on his property in Satsuma and have the Korean potters teach his own craftsmen to produce fine pottery. The island of Kyushu had plenty of clay deposits so the kilns were built and the potter prisoners put to work. The local clay was a white/brown colour and combined with the skills of the Korean potters, resulted in a creamy coloured pottery with a fine crackle glaze when fired. This type of pottery had never been seen before and news soon spread. This pottery grew quickly in popularity among the high ranking families in Japan, seemingly all wishing to own a piece of Satsuma. It was too expensive to be used every day, so most early Satsuma pieces were acquired or given as gifts. This early style of Satsuma was collected for its
Unzan vase, The Deities with signature
Shozan miniature jug with signature
texture and simplicity, with minimal decoration such as a light gold decorated border or a simple flower design.
KINKOZAN style Today’s collectable Satsuma has gold detail and busy designs which usually covers most of the surface. Totally different to the original, this style started around the early 19th century by Kinkozan who came from a famous family of potters and opened his studio to produce many wonderful masterpieces. It is reported that he was the first artist to use the famous Gosu deep blue colour, which was applied heavily and then decorated with a delicate gold floral and scroll design over the blue. Various artists copied his style and it is generically referred to as Kinkozan. His name was well known throughout Japan and the western world but there were hundreds of fine Satsuma artists. Unfortunately after Kinkozan passed away his name was still used for this style and towards the latter part of the 19th
IDENTIFYING fine Satsuma The best Japanese Satsuma shows the fine attention to detail by artists as it was all hand painted – even the smallest pieces could take months to achieve high quality. My book, The Best Book on Satsuma passes on some of the knowledge I have acquired over the many years of study of Japanese antiques.
WARNING ON FAKE SATSUMA It is always a surprise to find that there are many people who think Satsuma is a product of China. I suppose one of the reasons could be that many pieces of Satsuma offered online are copies and fakes made in China and shipped by the thousand to every part of the world. These modern copies are usually sold as ‘Royal Satsuma’ and are totally unrelated to the genuine antique Japanese hand painted works of art. Tom Kiernan KIERNAN GALLERIES 03 5449 3070 kiernangalleries@iinet.net.au