John Baymore on thu 13 apr 00
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Hi all out there in CLAYART-land.
I could use some help in identifying a ceramic piece for an aquaintance.
This question might be most applicable to those who are in Japan or who
have deep Japanese cultural/ art background, but maybe someone with a lot
of foreign (to the USA) antique background would know something about this
item.
The piece in question is a standing figure of a Japanese military personage
standing sort of at attention. It is believed (but not verified) to be
old.......maybe from about the time of World War II or a little earlier.
It was apparently associated with another similar figure that was broken.
That other figure supposedly appeared to be a military aviator, with neck
scarf. I didn't see that piece. The best working guess right now is that
these were figures for the Japanese domestic market honoring military
heroes of the period. It may be WWII military leaders or earlier.... the
uniform is not that detailed or distinctive (at least to me), and I'm not
familiar enough with military history to tell if it is an army, air force,
or naval uniform.
The figure in question has a beard, is in a uniform with a high stiff
neck-hugging collar with eppelets on the sholders with three raised bumps
on each of those. On the right side of his chest (looking at it) are a
pair of military awards that sort of resemble rosettes, one over and one
flanking one of two patch style pockets on the uniform front. He is
standing with legs together with a military-style sword standing on it's
scabbard point tightly modeled aganist the front of his legs=3B his hands =
are
on the sword hilt and are also modeled tight against the body to facilitate
fired strength as well as the necessities of press molding in two halves.
He is wearing shoes or boots, and his pants fall in a somewhat realistic
looking wrinkle over the feet. They may be bell botom style trowsers......
can't really tell for sure (Navy?).
It appears to be ceramic, fired to sort of bisque consistency. I don't
think it is plaster..... not the least of is because of the apparent
cleanup of mold lines in a claylike manner. It is made of a white-ish
claybody (one small chip under base) completely covered by a somewhat
uniform brown stain that makes the piece resemble very dark wood or metal
of some sort. The underside of the base is stained also. Upon inspection
of forming marks, it is press molded in two pieces, with the mold lines
running up the outsides of the legs, along the sides of the torso, centered
over the sholders, and over the top of the head. The texture from the
cleanup of these mold lines has been worked casually into the design. I
get the sense from looking at it that these figures were quickly made......
not high ticket items....probably large volume production. The center of
the base's underside is pressed in to form a foot of sorts, with the finger
wipes used to do this evident. There is about a eighth inch hole punched
in the center of the indented base area.
It has an impressed stamp on the lower rear of the base.....looking at the
base from the rear....on the left side. It is not a good full impression
of the stamp...... having likely been quickly done. I have trouble enough
with katakana/hiragana...... can't read kanji. One of the parts of the
stamp...... which might be divided into four separate characters within the
overall square stamp layout...... appears to be kanji for =22yama=22 .... as=
in
=22mountain=22. But if it is read this way..... it looks like =22yama=22 =
lying on
it's side with respect to the base of the figure. (Might the stamp have
been impressed so casually that it is sideways to the expected
orientation?)
The figure is about 12 and one quarter inches high. The base of the form
is retangular with soft, rounded edges on the corners and the base is about
4 inches wide. The base area on which the figure stands is about three
quarters to an inch thick.
So...... if anyone has any good ideas as to the identity of the particular
figure, it's production history, the time period it was produced, or the
particular person portrayed, I' really appreciate the help. You can email
me directly off list if you feel the info would not be of general interest.
Thanks in advance.
BEst,
........................john
John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA
603-654-2752 (s)
800-900-1110 (s)
JBaymore=40compuserve.com
John.Baymore=40GSD-CO.com
=22Earth, Water, and Fire Noborigama Woodfiring Workshop August 18-27,
2000=22
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