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This item presents a challenge - information on who made it and when would be appreciated.

The front of the dish is well-executed but there are two smears at the edge, suggesting careless handling.

The back has two intentional holes in the foot (glaze is inside each hole) suggesting a probable export item intended for display. The glaze has a light green/blue tinge to it. The artist character in the center is in running script and difficult to determine, and to one side is an impressed seal with Karakana symbols. They read, from top to bottom and right to left, "YA-A-TO-TA".

Dr. T. Volker wrote a brief article in the March-April, 1980 edition of Arts of Asia about a dish he owned with an identical impressed Katakana seal. His was blue/white, larger, had a mixed design on the front of Chinese and Japanese symbology and on the back had a signature block of 4 characters in underglaze blue in addition to the impressed Katakana seal. Volker speculated on the origina of the dish but ultimately left it to others "to solve the riddle posed."

Any answers out there?

Hello Tom,

Here are some pictures from a 28cm Blue and white plate I own wich have the same impressed seal but also a blue mark.
As far as I know (I cant read it myselve) this blue mark says: Tezuka Kinsei, Tokuyama and should be dated; 1910-1920.

greetings,

Arjan

The impressed seal reads "Yamatoku" in Japanese katakana script. Yamatoku was a porcelain company and I believe I read somewhere that this seal was generally used before 1920.

Tom,

I'm not sure how to read the character in red. I think it may be a stylized version of the character "shou" or "fuku" or something like that. It might even been several hiragana characters written in a highly stylized form.

Thanks to both of you for the information.

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