A large 17th Century Pair of Imari Vases and Covers

A fine pair of late 17th century Imari vases of magnificent scale, the bodies and lids decorated in polychrome glazes with gilded highlights, the floral cartouches set upon cross-hatched grounds, the lids with gilded stylised lions.

Imari porcelain (伊万里焼) is the name given to porcelain wares made in Arita, a town in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. This porcelain was exported in significant quantities to the European Market from the port of Imari, Saga, between the 1650s and the first half of the 18th century. The Japanese as well as Europeans called such pieces Imari. The Japanese also refer to this school of porcelain as Arita-yaki (有田焼).

The colours of the glazes in this example and the configuration of ornament date this pair to the end of the seventeenth century and no later than the opening years of the eighteenth century.