Ai-Kakiemon Blue and White Octagonal Dish with Tiger and Bamboo

Story

Created in late 17th-century Japan, this dish captures a time when Japanese artists had never seen a real tiger. Relying on imported Chinese paintings and domestic housecats for reference, they painted this delightfully expressive, cat-faced beast.

Maker / Origin

The Kakiemon workshop of Arita revolutionized global ceramics with its refined milk-white porcelain body (nigoshide) and delicate, asymmetrical compositions. While famous for overglaze enamels, their underglaze blue pieces (Ai-Kakiemon) represent some of the most sophisticated brushwork of the Edo period, highly prized by both Japanese tea masters and European royalty.

Condition & Value

The dish shows a prominent, stable hairline crack on the base extending from the central mark, along with minor glaze pitting and kiln grit consistent with 17th-century firing. The structural damage reduces the potential market value by approximately 50-60% compared to a mint-condition example.