Japanese (?) Blue/White Bowl

[bokaba]

I was wondering if this is a Japanese, possibly Arita bowl. It looks 19th Century to me, but I am not even sure if it is Japanese. Please move to the Chinese board if Chinese.

Thank you

Bokaba

[peterp]

This has a typical Japanese bottom. The decoration is copying a Chinese design.

[bokaba]

Stan do you think this bowl is Meiji Period?

Bokaba

[Stan]

Hi Bokaba, I'v never seen a mark like this, is that a 10 in the mark?

[Stan]

I can't really see the bottom clearly, it looks like there are two lines, one on the inside of the foot rim and one outside the foot rim usually on arita there would be 3 to 4 lines, so possibly Seto ware, I have seen 1 to 2 ring on seto, it looks even, not out of round like older Japanese porcelain, it looks like it could be Meiji to me.

[peterp]

>is that a 10 in the mark?
No, it looks as if it was a stylized/simplified Kanji mark (aka Chinese character mark). It could be another of those marks that the Japanese copied from Chinese porcelain. The decoration is the lingzhi fungus pattern that was made during much of the Qing dynasty.

[bokaba]

Hi Stan and Peter,

Here is a closer picture of the mark. It is hard to see since there is a spur mark in it.

Bokaba

[peterp]

Difficult. This is not a matter of being able to read, it is a matter of knowing the mark; the stylized mark characters are too different from normal writing to recognize them.