Old Moriage Covered Box Hand Painted Japan

Colors of the sky are gorgeous. You can tell it is sunset with the blues, purples and orange colors lighting up the background of the scene.

Around the border are tiny little enameled dots. Then A band of a slightly deeper, yet very soft bluish green or greenish blue (it's quite hard to differentiate) frames the entire top. On top of this band is some more Moriage work done in red, black and white enamel.

Picture is framed within a raised border.

The white of the swans are not painted, but rather exposed areas of the porcelain beneath. A soft glaze with just a hint of glossiness has been applied to the top. The underside of the rim is not glazed.

In the green section of the painting on the lid, there's is a wee spot where white shows thru. This is not a scratch. I looked with my loupe and saw that there is glaze on top. This happened during production. Probably smudged the painting a bit before the paint was dry. The same holds true for the spot of white showing thru on the tree to the left.

The domed lid is perfect, having no chips or cracks. The bottom does have some damage, There is a small chip on the inside rim and another chip that has an extremely fine hairline crack coming from it. The crack does not go to the bottom but goes to the side and just disappears. I didn't even notice it at all until I did an extremely very close inspection under good lighting. I had to use my loupe to see how far it went. Arrows point these flaws out.

If it were in perfect condition, I would be selling it for quite a bit more. . The bottom is finished with a nice soft glaze as well. Soft blue background with just a couple of flowers in yellow and green adorn four panels.

Designs are separated by four soft columns done in raised relief. There is a raised design around the collar or the bottom as well as further on down by the bottom of the bottom.

Inside of jar is highly glazed except near the top where you can see some orange. That section is unglazed. I believe this dates from around the 1920's or 1930's. It may possibly be older.

The photos show the box pretty well. Measures 4.75 "W x 2.25" H. Bottom is marked hand painted in Japan surrounded by the makers mark. I do not know who the maker is. If you like peaceful, tranquil nature scenes you will love this box. .

Item ID: CBS0908-936