Interesting Reticulated Blue & White Bowl

[tipton444]

Hello my friends,

I found this bowl at a recent local estate auction, and thought it was quite nice.  I'd love to learn more about it and get other opinions.  I'm guessing it is Japanese, only because I haven't seen another Chinese bowl like it, and the bottom was left unglazed in the center and in the corners so I'm guessing they are similar to spur marks?  The blue and white decoration is very similar to Chinese, but it is a pretty dark cobalt blue.  The inside of the bowl is INCREDIBLY wavy with an orange peel like texture, and many imperfections in the glaze, so it certainly appears to be pretty old. 

Where do you believe it is from?  How old do you think it is?  Thank you all very much, as always, I'm incredibly appreciative of your help. 

[tipton444]

More pictures of bottom

[peterp]

Might be Japanese, because this is not a classic Chinese shape. The painting is also not very traditional, in my view.
FYI, the reticulated sides were made in the late Ming dynasty too, but as mentioned, the shape is not typical.

[Stan]

I think this is Hirado, they did a lot of reticulated items, I did not find an exact example to compare in my books but I do know that their reticulated and decoration of all sorts in the Meiji period, Nice bowl.

[tipton444]

Great, thank you both very much.  I actually started to think it was Hirado myself right after posting and looking at a bunch of reticulated Hirado pieces, so I'm glad you thought so as well Stan.  If it is indeed Hirado, do you think it's a 19th century piece?  Interesting on the Ming wares, I'll have to look at a few for future reference.  Thanks for the help.

Eric

[Stan]

Hi Eric, the earlier Hirado was made with clay, where as the late 19th century used kaolin and high fired with white glaze, like yours.

[tipton444]

Makes a lot of sense, I thought it was pretty white!  Very interesting, thank you.