Unidentified Tea Set

[Trapeze Artist]

I have a Chinese (or possibly Japanese) tea set that was left me by my mother. The story goes that it was sent to her mother by her uncle who was in the army in China just after WW1.

It was originally 12 place settings but 2 cups and one saucer are missing. It's very thin and lets the light shine through, so presumably those pieces got broken.

Every piece has a slightly different picture on it. I've attached a selection of photos. Can anyone help me with identification? Thanks in anticipation.

[Stan]

This is Japanese, possibly Yamashita mid 20th century.

[Trapeze Artist]

Hi Stan

Thanks for the quick reply. The set was sent to my grandmother before the second world war, possibly just after the first. Does that fit your definition of mid 20th century?

Do you have any references for Yamashita? I googled "Yamashita porcelain" and it gives hundreds of pictures but nothing remotely close to my tea set.

[peterp]

The mark (both) says Made by Shiba...

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, for the correct name, from what I can see Shiba is a modern late 20th century maker.

[Trapeze Artist]

I have an update on the history of the tea set, or at least on tThe person who sent it to my grandmother. He was in the Hong Kong Police from 1907 to 1911 (when he died). So it certainly sets the date to before 1911. Whether it is Chinese or Japanese; well I suppose Chinese is more likely, but he travelled from London to Hong Kong on a Japanese ship so there must have been some Japanese trade in Hong Kong at the time.

[Stan]

Sorry to inform you, but your dates do not correlate with the maker and it is clearly Japanese, 1988 was the earliest that I found for Made by Shiba.

[Trapeze Artist]

Maybe the dates don't correlate with Made by Shiba, but the tea set has been in my possession since before 1988. Before that my parents had it in their sideboard for as long as I can remember (which is quite a long time!).

[peterp]

Hi Stan,

Just to clarify the term Shiba. If your source should be saying "Shiba ta", that is not right. it should be "Shibata", one word. That is a very common Japanese last name, and could also be a place or company name.
However, Shiba alone is not much found. It means "grass". So here it could be just an abbreviation or nickname of sorts, not necessarily the manufacturer's name.
I tried to find information on the Japanese internet, but there is no Shiba (one character) manufacturer to be found. Could it be the nickname for one of the painters attached to a kiln, possibly working outside?

[Stan]

Hi Trapeze, you might want to wait and see if you can find something similar, I am not that familiar with modern Japanese, and if it is from the time you say I have never seen this mark, please let me know when you find out more, thanks.