This Meiji period Satsuma ware Japanese antique vase is painted by the artist Suwa Sozan (1852-1922) for the Kinkozan workshop of Kyoto.  Sozan was one of the prolific artists working for the Kinkozan workshop along with fellow artists Yabu Meizan, Kinozan Sobei VI, and Miyagawa Kozan. All of whom were credited with massive contributions to the Japanese arts during the late Edo and Meiji period.  In 1907 Sozan left Kinkozan to head his workshop and in 1917 was given the title of Imperial Household Artist or Teishitsu Gigeiin.  Other noted Teishitsu Gigeiin includes Shibata Zeshin and Koun Tamakura both exceptionally important in their own right. 

The Kinkozan workshop was the most successful producer of Kyoto Satsuma wares, which like their regional equivalents in the Tokyo, and Osaka workshops were responsible for creating works that catered to the West’s interest in Japanese art.

This interest started during the International Exposition of 1867 in Paris and the International Exposition of 1873 in Vienna.

It was during these exhibitions that the West was first introduced to the Japanese art treasures of the late Edo period and beginning of the Meiji period and spurred the massive export wares of Japanese art and which later heavily influenced the Belle Epoque style of the Arts & Crafts movement and the Art Nouveau movement.  

The landscape panels signed Sozan, and with an impressed Kinkozan seal underfoot. This vase dates to the late 19th century.

The decoration of roosters among the wisteria decorated on one panel and a mountain landscape pained on the other both separated by cobalt and gilt decorated carp and waves in between. 

Size: 6.375 inches in height

Condition: With wear to the carp and waves gilt decoration, repairs to the imperfect foot and mouth, and a potting flaw in the neck