Identifying Japanese Vases

I have a pair of vases that I believe to be Japanese with a character mark on the bottom. Who can help me identify what they are or the mark?

If you can post photos onto a photo-hosting site like Flickr and post a link here, I am sure someone can help you.

Several photos are good, tip: size my be important, use something to provide scale.

http://www.webanswers.com/arts-humanities/crafts/can-anyone-identify-t...

Satsuma.
Ok that being said. I am only 60% certain.
I can't speak to the Japanese Kanji. The coloration seems right, the texture is not perfect, and the motief is consistant . I am set back with the "wings" on the side. But some Satsuma have these in some form.
The base indicated some age..150 yrs..? Meji ?

This is a wonderful vase! Striking!
Can I guess at value for you ? $ 650 to $ 1000
As this is a group effort I welcome other input. Were getting there.

thank you very much - I will follow some leads. We know this came from my gg grandmother who lived circa 1850 to 1940 bit not sure exactly where or when it came into the family. That branch of the family had some wealth so does open some possibilities

Umm..., are both the same word in the center and the rim?

口?
ニ means 2
六 means 6

The first mark like D or 12 at the rim is maybe 口(kuchi), if so it means "the mouth" and size?
But the one at the center looks like 下(shita; under), 卜(uranai; divination) or something, it's not 口...

BTW, in Japanese era, Meiji 26 is 1893 A.D., Taisho 26 is not exists, Showa 26 is 1951 A.D.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_period

Thank you, ajapaneseboy. Can you say that the numbers are Japanese or could they also be Chinese ?

Were these still in the original box ? If so that could also help. I have a wild guess. Perhaps the pair were a wedding present to your grandmother. You might look at old family photos, if you have any,
and see if they might appear in a parlor shot.
The numbers..I wonder if they might be a "production number" or perhaps even a name.
I mis-spelled Meiji. Sorry.

Satsuma was produced at several locations in Japan and the company produced many vases and other wear. Satsuma marks do vary but have a common circle with a cross inside of it. This does not. Not every piece did, but that is not conclusive.
For pictures type in Satsuma Vases you will find a ton of them.

Yes, it could be Chinese.
I heard at least 2(ニ) and 6(六) are the same characters in Japanese and Chinese.
(Japanese "Kanji" means Han-Chinese characters.)

However ニ is a possibility of Katakana that is a phonetic symbol of "ni" in Japanese.
In that case, also ロ is possible Katakana of "ro".
It's too hard to identify ロニ六(roni6) or ロ二六(ro26).
But if it's Katakana, then it's certainly Japanese, NOT Chinese.
And in Katakana, maybe it's ト(to) at center...?

Now I remember, in Japan, especially before WW-II, イ(i)ロ(ro)ハ(ha)ニ(ni) is often used to classify/categorize like ABCD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha
So if it's production number or something, I think maybe it's ロ二六(ro26).

Very Good!!

Do we agree on Satsuma ?

What is your best guess on the numbers or characters ? Production code or "makers mark" ?

You are a wealth of information. Thank you. This is fun.

Sorry, I can't say anything about art treasures or antiques.
I'm unsure but from my untrained/ignorant eyes, it never looks copyright or something like maker's name.

I'll say this is not Japanese nor Chinese. The characters in the center and the edge is not even and badly shaped as if the person didn't know the language. I've never seen the horn shape decolations like that either.


Can this be European made? One of the Japonisme ceramics from France/Holland/Germany?