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Hi, trying to identify the age and origin of this unusual vase/jar. Sold at auction as possibly Korean, no provenance forthcoming other than "property of a Gentleman".

I have been unable to find anything that really looks similar stylistically from Korea and am leaning towards thinking it is Japanese. It has kintsugi repairs which seem old themselves, but with Korean ceramics being widely traded in Japan historically the repair itself wouldn't denote the actual origin.

Closest thing I can find is a Ko Seto Heishi, it looks similar in form but with the top broken and missing. Have seen a couple with same texture, the way the glaze has been applied and firing defects, one with same pinky colour underglaze, one with the same hole in the bottom, (at Bonhams, who say the hole is common in ko seto heishi)but nothing exactly the same, nothing with the kind of painted decoration like this one has. It is 31cm tall, would have been taller, definitely missing something at the top!

Anyone any ideas? I'm not in any way an expert on asian ceramics, bought for decorative value, and fairly sure I'll be barking up the wrong tree!

Link :more images

Looks like a cobalt blue decorated Iranian stonepaste vase or jar, circa 19th century.

Thank you Robert, very interesting! My very first thought was Iranian, the way the decoration is drawn, but until you mentioned stone paste nothing similar was coming up. Image search for Iranian fritware turns up some very similar things, that pinky colour was the missing element. Can I ask, is there anything particularly that leads you to date it to 19th century ? A lot of very similar items I'm seeing are being ascribed to much earlier, 14th - 16th century. I can't find anything claiming to be 19th century to compare to

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