SALE Vintage Noritake Covered Tobacco Jar Humidor with Hand Painted Trees on a Golden Pond

Collectibles : Tobacciana : Humidors : Porcelain : Noritake Nippon Toki Kaisha : Vintage Hand Painted Mij Made In Japan Japanese 20th Century : Tree In The Meadow Tim

 

A little piece of history, this scenic Noritake tobacciana collectible from the early 20th Century features a hand painted landscape of trees, islands and pond (river or lake) in rich, glossy earth tones that evoke scenes from Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer. The lid has a place to hold a moistened sponge to help keep your favorite tobacco moist - or use the covered box as a biscuit, cookie, cracker or dresser jar; tea caddy; candy dish, etc. to store and serve delights of all sorts.

MARK: Noritake green “M in wreath” Hand Painted, Made in Japan, registered by Nippon Toki Kaisha, Ltd. in 1918 (DHS #27.0) and used throughout the Art Deco era.

ORIGIN: of Japanese (Asian, Oriental) derivation, most pre-WWII Noritake collectibles were designed at the Morimura Brothers trading company in New York City, then made and hand decorated by employees at the Nippon Toki Kaisha, Ltd. ("the Company that makes Japan's Finest China") factory in Noritake, Japan for export to Western (Occidental) markets.

CONDITION: Very Good Vintage (no chips, cracks, crazing or repairs), with a few small manufacturing variations

PATTERN & COLORS: Rich, glossy earth tones encircle the exterior; the interior is a white glaze. Billowy brown trees frame the jar's foreground, a subtle peach lake or river with small islands idles by behind these trees, and a summer sunset’s afterglow completes its background (or is it a misty sunrise?). The design is not as pastoral or homey as the more typical Tree in the Meadow (TIM) designs, and it is not much like Noritake’s Asian scenes either. This artistic expression looks Americana - perhaps a scene from the Tobacco Belt. The lid has a black & white knob and the top of one of the trees continues onto the cover ala other Noritake tree scenes.

SIZE: About 4¼” tall without the lid (5 ½” to the top of the finial) x 4”at it widest part.

According to Joan Van Patten (in “The Collector's Encyclopedias of Noritake”):

Initially, Noritake “Tree in Meadow” items were “only available as premiums in the Larkin Company catalog between 1926 and 1935. With each purchase from the catalog, Larkin offered coupons to be redeemed for premiums. ‘Tree in Meadow’ is a pattern name given by collectors. The Larkin catalogs called it, for example, ‘Colorful Scenic Pattern in Hand Painted Imported Noritake China’ (1930), or ‘Popular Scenic Pattern Imported Noritake China’ (1934).” The pattern has many variations—at least one for each season (yet perhaps even a few more).

Van Patten indicates that, “Larkin obtained ‘Tree in Meadow’ from the Noritake Company, founded in the late nineteenth century by the Morimura Brothers. The backstamp on each piece is either "red" or "green", indicating when the piece was made ("red" is earlier than "green"), rather than its quality…In the backstamp, the "M" stands for "Morimura," the wreath comes from the Morimura family crest, and the "made in Japan" suggests it was for import to the USA only….”

“One of the delights in handpainting is that each piece of any one item differs somewhat from each other piece, so that every ‘Tree in Meadow’ piece is unique.”

Item ID: RL-NorHum-075

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