Features
1. Royal-grade Fukagawa blue and somenishiki decoration
What most fascinates collectors about Fukagawa Seiji is that deep, transparent blue. This vase shows fine blue painting, the peony petals clearly layered, with gold enamel drawing the stamens and the veins of the leaves. The somenishiki technique combines a composed blue with a mellow orange-red, balancing cool and warm colour perfectly.
2. A porcelain body as fine as mutton-fat jade
Fukagawa Seiji fires at extremely high temperature, giving its white porcelain a translucent quality like mutton-fat jade. Touch the body and the porcelain feels exceptionally fine and smooth, which is also why Fukagawa pieces wear so well and do not easily collect grime.
3. The king of flowers, a symbol of wealth and rank
In Japanese art the peony stands for wealth and rank, for splendour and for purity. This vase is painted with two grand peonies, one blue and one orange, set off pleasingly against each other, and the mouth is rimmed with a slender band of gold, so that a touch of royal luxury shows through the plainness of the whole.