| Form |
Hentsubo-gata kabin (扁壺型花瓶) — squat, flattened-sphere flower vase, narrow mouth |
| Size |
Height 17.0 cm (6.7″) · mouth Ø 6.5 cm (2.6″) · foot Ø 15.0 cm (5.9″) |
| Weight |
2,144 g (4.73 lb) |
| Material |
White porcelain (磁器 jiki), Arita-yaki lineage |
| Decoration |
染付 (sometsuke) soft blue mountain-mist landscape band, underglaze — pale-blue ridges fading into white |
| Glaze |
Clean white porcelain ground, glossy |
| Foot mark |
Mt. Fuji silhouette above 「官窯染付」 (Kanyō Sometsuke) series mark, underglaze cobalt |
| Series |
官窯染付 (Kanyō Sometsuke) — Fukagawa's imperial-kiln cobalt-and-white line |
| Maker |
深川製磁 Fukagawa Seiji, Arita (est. 1894) — 宮内庁御用達 Imperial Household purveyor since 1910 |
| Era |
Late Shōwa–early Heisei, estimated mid-1980s–mid-1990s (documented vintage) |
| Condition |
Excellent — no chips, no hairlines; unrestored |
| Tomobako |
Original paulownia kiribako (27 × 26.5 × 19.5 cm), signed & stamped |
| Included |
Vase + tomobako + leaflet 「官窯染付の魅力」 + brand brochure 「富士のあるべ」 |
Vintage Fukagawa Seiji white-porcelain kabin — Kanyō Sometsuke landscape
A squat, flattened-sphere flower vase (扁壺型花瓶 / hentsubo-gata kabin) by 深川製磁 Fukagawa Seiji — quieter and more modernist than the workshop's full-cobalt pieces. The body is clean white porcelain, brushed only at the lower band with a soft, abstract sometsuke (染付) wash that reads as a mountain-mist landscape — pale-blue ridges fading upward into white. The narrow mouth (6.5 cm) suits a single-stem ikebana arrangement; the broad foot (15 cm) gives the form a low, stable visual gravity that anchors a tokonoma or sideboard.
A "Kanyō Sometsuke" series mark — not the common brand mark
The vase carries a specific underglaze foot mark that sets it apart from standard Fukagawa output: a stylized Mt. Fuji silhouette above 「官窯染付」 (Kanyō Sometsuke) — the series mark itself, used on dedicated 官窯染付 production rather than the workshop's more common 「深川製」 general mark. Kanyō Sometsuke is Fukagawa's contemporary reading of the Chinese imperial-kiln cobalt-and-white aesthetic, named in the workshop's own literature alongside its other signature glaze families.
Maker & provenance
• Made by Fukagawa Seiji / Arita-yaki in Saga Prefecture, Japan, curated by ZenKiln — a documented vintage piece acquired from a Japan-based sourcing studio.
The attribution rests on an unusually full closure standard — seven points, including an expanded brand-history brochure not always packed with smaller pieces:
- Underglaze foot mark — Mt. Fuji + 「官窯染付」 series mark
- Tomobako lid — 「花瓶」 (kabin)
- Tomobako side — 「宮内庁御用達 深川製」 (Imperial Household Purveyor · Fukagawa-sei)
- Tomobako corner red cartouche — 「美術有田焼」 (Bijutsu Arita-yaki)
- Tomobako bottom red square — 「深川 謹製」 house seal
- Leaflet 「官窯染付の魅力」 (The Allure of Kanyō Sometsuke) with the certification seal 「宮内庁御用達 深川製磁 認定」
- Full-color fold-out brochure 「富士のあるべ」 — Mt. Fuji cover, an aerial photograph of the 西有田 (Nishi-Arita) factory, the national branch listing, the house chronology, and the signature of company president 深川昭 (Akira Fukagawa)
Maker attribution is definitive (series foot mark + signed tomobako + certified leaflet + brand brochure). Dating is estimated — late Shōwa to early Heisei, roughly the mid-1980s to mid-1990s — narrowed by the Telex (テレックス) numbers still printed on the brochure's branch-address sheet, a business standard largely retired by the mid-1990s. The historical dates in the brochure (1650, 1894, 1904, 1910, 1962) describe the brand's history, not this vase's production year. Fukagawa Seiji remains an operating Arita porcelain house today.
About Fukagawa Seiji
Per the included brochure: the Fukagawa family first lit a kiln in Arita in Keian 3 (1650); 深川忠次 (Tadatsugu Fukagawa) established the modern Fukagawa Seiji house in Meiji 27 (1894), adopting the 富士流水 (Mt. Fuji + flowing water) back-mark as a guarantee of quality. The house won a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and was designated purveyor to the Imperial Household Agency in 1910 — a status it still holds.
Condition
Excellent. The white glaze surface is clean and glossy, with no chips and no hairlines in the photographed angles; the underglaze sometsuke is crisp. Unrestored and unrefinished. Light age-consistent wear may appear on the foot ring, and the paulownia tomobako shows the gentle toning typical of age. Additional close-up photos of the mark, foot, or any detail are available on request before purchase.
Display & use
The squat, low-shouldered form reads quietly in a modernist or Japandi interior — a tokonoma vignette, a console beside a single chair, a fireplace mantel. The 6.5 cm mouth holds a single tall stem (lily, eucalyptus, branch ikebana) or a small kenzan pin-frog for a low-water arrangement, and the ~2.1 kg base keeps the vessel stable under taller cuttings.
Care
Hand-wash only with lukewarm water and a soft cloth. Avoid abrasive sponges, dishwashers, microwaves, and prolonged direct sunlight. The sometsuke wash is underglaze and stable to normal handling; if arranging fresh flowers, line the interior with a glass tumbler to protect the glaze from mineral residue.
Included
- 1 × Fukagawa Seiji Kanyō Sometsuke squat kabin
- 1 × original signed paulownia tomobako
- 1 × printed Fukagawa leaflet 「官窯染付の魅力」
- 1 × fold-out brand-history brochure 「富士のあるべ」 (with president's signature)
- Hand-packed in archival tissue inside a double-walled carton from Japan
About ZenKiln — A Japan-based curator connecting international collectors with Japan's artisan ceramic tradition. We work closely with the kilns, workshops, and makers featured in our shop — each one disclosed in our About section — and hand-pack every piece in Japan for safe delivery worldwide.
📦 Ships from Japan, hand-packed for safe delivery.
