Antique Kakiemon plate, Worcester or Caughley, Very Rare

Stunning antique porcelain plate or dish, decorated with the "pale tiger" design, colourful drawn motifs in the center bolstered by a fluted, basket weave border. Creeping upwards, the dark wood of the tree draws our eye, even as the tiger's spectral pale-violet fur is contrasted with its pitch black stripes. The bamboo which the tiger weaves around is a deep ochre, complimenting the dark leaves. The purple rim across the edge is also a highlight, and well preserved too. Kakiemon is a style of Japanese porcelain with an overglaze, so-called "enamel" finish.

It was originally produced at the factories around Arita, in Japan's Hizen province (today, Saga Prefecture) from the Edo period's mid-17th century onwards. The potter Sakaida Kakiemon, who lived in the mid 17th century, was one of the first in Japan to discover the secret of enamel decoration on porcelain, known as akae. Kakiemon porcelain was exported from Japan into Europe via the Dutch East India Company in the late 17th century, where its contact with European cultural tastes precipitated the style's appropriation by Meissen in the early 18th century, followed by Chelsea, Worcester, and indeed Caughley towards the end of the 18th century.

1775 to 1799, the Caughley factory at Caughley, Shropshire produced excellent Kakiemon style porcelain in different patterns and designs, often mimicking the Japanese designs of old. Royal Worcester would also produce plates of the kind of design we see here. Very similar to, for example, the designs of the plate owned by King Augustus II of Poland, which is now kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26.6 cm in length.

One crack bisects the plate, and small webbed cracking beneath the enamel, please carefully regard all photos. Item will be sent fully tracked and insured.

---