An important set of Four Japanese circular dishes (kurode kawarake zara) Signed Kenzan (Ogata Kenzan 1663-1743)

the circular plates partly covered with white slip (shiro gesho), decorated in underglaze iron, (sabi-e) enamels and gilt in Rimpa-style designs: primrose with horsetails, geese flying over a stream, reeds in a river and chrysanthemums, each signed Kenzan within a rectangular cartouche (4)

Frederick Wiliam Gookin.

Ogata Kenzan was the third son of a wealthy drapery dealer in Kyoto Kariganeya. He learned pottery from Nonomura Ninsei and later applied Rimpa textile designs to his ceramics with the help of his older brother Ogata Korin (1658-1716). These types of dishes (kawarake zara) were unique to Kenzan. He learned the basics of pottery from Ninsei, but one can rarely see similarity to Ninsei's works.  Kenzan's basic glaze was different from Ninsei's, and his overglaze (iro-e) did not include red. In 1699, at the age of 37, he began to use his kiln in Narutaki, which used low firing. He made these dishes in large and small sizes with several seasonal designs. Examples of these austere and highly artistic pieces are included in museum collections, such as Nezu Institue of Fine Arts (important cultural property), Hatakeyama Kinenkan, and Fujita Museum.

Frederick William Gookin (1853-1936), curator of Japanese prints at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1914 until the time of his death, was one of the most knowledgeable of early Western scholars of Japanese ukiyo-e prints. He worked closely with Kate Buckingham after the death of her brother Clarence in 1913 and was appointed the curator of the Clarence Buckingham Collection at the Art Institute. His own collections included prints, paintings, and illustrated books, many of which were presented in a memorial gift to the Art Institute by his daughter in 1940.

Compare a similar set of five dishes in the Hatakeyama Kinenkan, Tokyo, illustrated in the catalogue Rimpa, Hatakeyama Kinenkan, Tokyo, 1994, cat. no. 46.