A rare ko-sometsuke blue and white handled tray, 17th century 十七世紀 青花人物故事圖提籃形盤

The term ko-sometsuke, which literally translates to old blue-and-white, refers to the Chinese blue-and-white porcelains produced specifically for the Japanese market in the 17th century. During this period, tea ceremonies had gained vast popularity in Japan, which led to an increasing demand for Chinese porcelains. The unofficial kilns in Jingdezhen had thus produced a great number of tea wares to serve the Japanese taste and aesthetics.

The present lot is a rare but classic example of blue and white porcelain with Japanese design. Although the lower body is shaped in the form of a tray or a dish, it is called 'tebachi', or handled bowl, in Japanese. This type of tea ware is used to serve food during the kaiseiki tea ceremony meal. There are very few published examples that are similar to this lot. Compare an inscribed rectangular handled tray, however, decorated with landscape scene, published in Kikutaro Saito, Toki Zenshu  [Complete Series on Ceramics] vol. 15: Ko-sometsuke, Tokyo, 1959, pl. 32.

See two similar examples of slightly different shapes, one with landscape illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu [Ceramic Art of the World] vol. 14: Ming Dynasty, Tokyo, 1976, fig. 163; another with two figures and a deer from the Effie B. Allison collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in Stephan Little, Chinese Ceramics of the Transitional Period: 1620-1683, Dartmouth, 1983, pl. 11.