Large Satsuma Jardiniere

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I noticed the auction house said their was 17 pieces put there was 19 pieces not including the lids, This Jardiniere is 36.19 cm in diameter and is heavily potted, the bottom has a slight con-caved bottom and the colors look like they could be a Laquered finish inside out, I have not been able to find the mark, I hope it is legible enough to read, I also noticed that most pieces have an Indian look, which leads me to believe that  this collection could have been Japanese Export to India, thank for all your help, Stan.

[Stan]

Here are 2 more photo's to view.

[Stan]

Here is the last photo showing the whole bottom.

[peterp]

The right side means 'Dainippon', but the left side is virtually unreadable, especially the middle character. Really complex characters with so many strokes are uncommon. I wonder if this is proper Japanese?
Isn't the color of the item unusually dark?

[Stan]

Hi Peter, I am pretty sure that this is Japanese export to India, the dark colors would fit their culture, Im not sure of age, I would think late 19th to early 20th, that would explain the Great Japan on the right side, I could not find anything in my books on marks for japanese, I was hoping that you might recognize some features that might point to the name or potter, I found nothing under Satsuma or Kioto marks, thanks for looking, If I get lucky and find out more I will keep you posted, thanks again, Stan.

[peterp]

Well, I did not even know that Japan ever exported ceramics to India. Dainippon is written 大日本. The character in the middle is  not a normal Kanji. The strokes shown are not fitting any character. Japanese uses only some 2000 Kanji, but I think none of them looks like this. Maybe it is not a Kanji at all, or one concocted for the mark only, or more likely, something got blurred when writing this. Completely unreadable.

[Stan]

Hi Peter, to be honest, I did not know that either, that is Japanese export to India, I am just judging by the decoration, the eyes, the ears, faces, hair and an elephant on one of the vases, that is simply an observation, I do not say that dogmatically as fact, but it seems in this small collection that the decoration has a lot of the same traits, so I assumed the possibility that this could have been brought to the U.S from India, and that is total speculation on my part, and i really appreciate your knowledgable expertise, to me the Dainippon all look the same, to my untrained eye, thanks so much for your expertise, I will have to admit that the black on bottom is very black with no fading, I supposed that it being on the bottom might have preserved it, and you and I both know that marks on Japanese items have been scribbled and therefore unreadable,  the piece could use a cleaning for sure, thanks so much for your help, I will post and keep you informed if I find out anything further, thanks again for your help, Stan.