Antique Japanese? Porcelain Gold Gilt Vase Lamp

[tipton444]

Hey all,

My latest find was this neat lamp, and I'd love to learn more about it because it seems pretty unique to me.  Has anyone seen a lamp like this with the gold and black paint surrounding porcelain painted panels?  The bottom also has some kind of veneered wood material that is unfortunately falling off in some areas, but the rest is porcelain.  I'm assuming this was a vase that they turned into a lamp in the 20's or 30's, what would you guys do, keep it as a lamp or de-lamp it?  Thanks

Eric

[Stan]

Hi Eric, Nice Lamp/vase, I have often purchased beautiful vases that have been made into lamps, and took them apart because the lamp shade took from the beauty of the vase, some of them are amazing and often preserved because as a lamp it dose not get handled as much, I have three vases I purchased as lamps by Fukagawa painted with these beautiful Matt ground glazes, they also have a red Matt ground glaze, it is a personal preference, to me it is nice to have a Vase from the Mid Meiji period to see what the bottom looks like and if there is a mark, but if you need a lamp you have a nice lamp already made but by the looks of the cord, I would take it apart and at least change the cord, to me it looks better as a Vase, if you take it apart be careful not to damage it.

[tipton444]

Very neat, thanks for sharing your experiences with lamp/vases!  I've had a few different lamp vases, but they were always destroyed so I had to take them apart, but I will have to give it some thought on this lamp... the shade is incredibly large and has a tear on the inside, but the outside looks just fine, and it's too bad there's a lot of damage around the base, but I would still display it proudly.  So, you said you had three Fukagawa vases yourself, do you think this vase could be Fukagawa as well?  Unfortunately the bottom has a felt padding so it may be covering some marks, but if I de-lamp the vase I will take it off to find out.  I think I saw a few similar imari arita plates with the red glaze you were talking about, very nice!  Thanks Stan!

[Stan]

Vases and ect, from the Fukagawa Meiji period were painted with a high level of skill, they painted inside the lines, this one seems to be fairly sloppy, I'm wondering if this could have been broken at on time and repaired, vases with a matt finish were expensive at the time they were made many of them were made for export, the only way you could tell is by taking it apart, it could have just been painted with a matt finish afterwards to make it look real, all the Matt ground glazes that I have seen are High style and finely painted.

[tipton444]

Very interesting.  It does appear to be fairly sloppy!  I'll have to take it apart at some point in the future.  Thanks for all the help Stan!