Of tall ovoid form, the gently rounded shoulders rising to a short waisted neck with slightly everted rim, the body tapering elegantly towards the foot.
Finely painted in graduated shades of underglaze cobalt blue with a continuous composition of towering bamboo, the segmented canes rising vertically around the body beneath spreading clusters of slender leaves, the decoration becoming increasingly dense across the shoulders and continuing onto the neck. The bamboo is rendered with considerable variation in tone, from pale translucent washes to areas of deep cobalt, creating a striking sense of depth against the luminous white porcelain ground.
Among the bamboo are two small birds in flight, delicately rendered in coloured enamels, while towards the lower body sprays of flowering roses provide a subtle contrast to the predominantly blue-and-white composition. The blossoms, in soft tones of pink, mauve and warm orange, are finely painted in slightly raised overglaze enamels, with exceptionally delicate foliage and stems.
The composition is particularly successful in its use of negative space, the open expanses of white porcelain balancing the strong vertical rhythm of the bamboo and giving the decoration an unusually calm and painterly quality. Viewed in the round, the bamboo forms a continuous grove, with individual stems and foliage appearing and receding as the vase is turned.
The porcelain body is of notably fine quality, covered in a smooth, lustrous white glaze which gives exceptional clarity to the underglaze-blue painting and provides a refined ground for the more delicately applied enamel decoration.
The base bearing an underglaze-blue Fukagawa mark.
Fukagawa Seiji was established at Arita in 1894 and became renowned during the late Meiji period for exceptionally refined porcelain, particularly works combining sophisticated underglaze-blue painting with coloured enamel decoration.
Meiji period (1868–1912), late Meiji.
Height: 33 cm
Width at widest point: 13 cm
Diameter at base: 8 cm
Provenance: Private collection, London.
Condition: Excellent. Exceptionally well preserved, with no chips, cracks, hairlines or restoration observed.
