Zen Teacup & Saucer With Japanese Painted Caligraphy Mark

by Joy
(Charleston SC)

Zen Teacup & Saucer With Japanese Painted Caligraphy Mark:- My Aunt just gave me this teacup & saucer... she said I should have my green tea in it after yoga... would not say where it came from or anything about it, maybe she does not know??? I hesitate to use it if it has great value.... the gold shows some wear so I think it has been used, but it is amazing... I can't believe how thin it is and the markings on the bottom are Asian. Should I use it or is it of great value.

thanks for your help,

Joy

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Zen Teacup & Saucer With Japanese Painted Caligraphy Mark

Hi Joy

Many thanks for submitting your lovely photos, your nice story (I love a little bit of human interest input like your 'green tea after yoga' story! - which tells us a lot about both you and your Aunt), and hope you are finding the site useful.

One thing is for sure - your green tea will taste FANTASTIC out of this cup, I know that for sure, no matter what this item is worth.

I know little about Oriental marks - the UK is my main area of interest. However, I can give some pointers based on the many expert reports on Japanese wares I have had going through my expert liaison service.

The first thing to note is Japanese wares are a very complex area. Nothing is simple. Some special things can be worth a lot, but many items can have just decorative value. For example, the post-war 'made-for-export' wares from Japan do not have much collectible value.

Antique wares without any English writing and only Japanese characters are likely to be worth something more.

Noritake wares, for example, can be high quality and very nice. However, and this is an indication of the size of the problem, Noritake have about 400 different brands, backstamps and pottery marks - many of them cheaper made for export wares. One of the reasons for this was to 'protect' the integrity of their main brand.

Made-for-export volume wares are not a new 20th century idea because the feudal head of the Satsuma lands began to produce wares with European tastes in mind in 1879. This was a range of wares made for export which sometimes had Japanese character marks and sometimes English marks.

The words 'Satsuma' and 'Kutani' mean different things to different people. I wrote an article on this which you can find if you use one of the search boxes on site (for example, there is one at the top of the homepage).

So you see nothing is simple within the subject of Japanese wares, and it is a complete minefield, which is why you need an expert to sort out your tea drinking habits. Remember what Shakespeare said "To drink, or not to drink, THAT, is the question".... or something like that.

Personally, I see your cup & saucer as very nice quality and very nice to drink green tea from, but as for value - this entirely depends upon two factors:-

1. How many were made and still survive in the West.



2. How many collectors there are for this type of wares.

Peter (admin)

p.s. The following page is a 'must see' if you are researching fine china - for value and identification:-

Researching the identity and value of antique and vintage fine china.

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