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Satsuma Porcelain

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Satsuma Porcelain Japan

This lens is about Japanese Satsuma porcelain, one in a series of lenses I will write about Asian Antique ware. I have been admiring  Satsuma porcelain since I was little, and never left out an opportunity in my travels to visit Japanese Art exhibitions.  

Oten, I find a surprisingly good collection. The reason is that Japanese porcelain has been quite popular throughout the centuries among wealthy collectors, and many beautiful pieces survived the storm of history, safely tucked away in private collections. For those who can't afford to have a collection of their own, libraries offer books and catalogues (e.g., issued by auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's ) leading to almost as much joy as calling these pieces your own. One doesn't have to be a millionaire to indulge in the beauty of Art. I hope you join me on many more tours into Asian and European antiques, by reading my other lenses! Enjoy!


Japanese Antique is Gorgeous

Watch out for cheap imitation Royal Satsuma

Throughout the history of Art, valuable true masterpieces of Art have been falsified, copied, or led to inspired styles because some people realized there is a lot of money to be made by this. They sold these fakes and cheap kitschy replicas to those who could not afford the real thing.

Sometimes, an entire industry emerged on these doubtful needs, and flooded the market with porcelain that has little to no Artistic value whatsoever. One blatant example for this is the line of porcelain known as Royal Satsuma. It sounds so majestic, right? If you are browsing eBay and other on-line selling sites and happen to run across a so-called Royal Satsuma vase or porcelain bowl, regardless of whether or not you end up buying it, please be aware of it that items signed on the bottom as Royal Satsuma have absolutely nothing to do with one of the world's most beautiful antique porcelain styles, Satsuma. You will get exactly what you are paying for, as no one with sane mind could expect to buy a genuine Satsuma antique vase for $49.99

Royal Satsuma is, at best, tourist kitsch, cheap bazaar ware in comparison to the real thing.

How to Recognize Genuine Satsuma Porcelain

So then, what exactly does genuine antique Satsuma look like? For starters, this picture should give a glimpse into this syle. Similar to the previously discussed Kutani style, the colors are very warm, orange, black, gold and earth tones are represented galore. One main difference is the pattern usually (though not always) covers everything, not leaving even the tiniest spot unpainted. Another difference is that gold is overwhelmingly the most important color of genuine antique Satsuma ware. Yet the biggest difference is that Satsuma items have a slightly crackled glaze if you look at them very closely. You may also often find tiny little bumps on the surface (not as prominent as those on Royal Satsuma items) that were created by the tiniest of brush-tips soaked with (usually white or gold) paint quickly touched to the surface. Often, the pictures on the Satsuma vase are divided up into three-four sections and each section depicts another scene, as if telling a whole story in paragraphs.

Antique Art Squidoo Group Link

Antique Art Squidoo Group
If you admire Antique Art, please feel free to check out my Squidoo group Antique Art. You're welcome to submit your lens describing Antique Art pieces from Europe or Asia / the Orient. [Note: Lenses will be approved by me on a one-on-one basis, and I will feature the lenses that best represent the credo of this group, in my personal opinion]. The more groups you submit your lenses, the more traffic is generated to your lens thus more money can be raised for you or for your donation purposes. Have fun, and thanks for visiting! :o)

Interested in purchasing or selling genuine Antiques?

Your best bet is probably to visit one of these:

Christie's Auction House
Christie's is among the most famous auction houses for antiques in the World. While there are hundreds of thousands of auction houses world wide, some of the most reputable ones became famous for the ethical treatment of buyers and sellers alike, the volume of business they conduct, as well as the wonderful organized manner in which they operate. Both Christie's and Sotheby's issues catalogues which are often more popular than some books about the topic, because these catalogues can be used as a resource for obtaining recent sales price, value and rarity of certain items. Last but not least, the beautiful, colorful pictures these catalogues offer appeal to those like me who are always on the look-out for aesthetics in life.
Sotheby's Auction House
Sotheby's New York is one of the most famous auction houses in the World.
Antique Chinese and Japanese Porcelain Collectors Marks
For identifying the oriental porcelain marks, I recommend Gotheborg.com Antique Chinese and Japanese porcelain collectors page. This fully searchable web site is the largest research database on Chinese and Japanese antique porcelain collector's information available anywhere. Gotheborg.com is divided into sections like chapters in a book. Use the links in the left navigation column to find the section that best fits your interest.

Satsuma related items on Amazon

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Sweden exhibits Antique Oriental porcelain in China

Handled With Care - Chinese Porcelain to Sweden and Back
by Danwei | video info

29 ratings | 23,224 views
curated content from YouTube

Antique Porcelain Collector Books on Amazon

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Visit the Metropolitan Museum in New York!

They have beautiful Oriental artifacts on display

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Asian Antique Collector Books on Amazon

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Satsuma on Amazon Plexo: Cast your vote!

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Fine Oriental Works of Art [Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco (3917O) / 15 Mar 1988] by Butterfield & Butterfield

Fine Oriental Works of Art [Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco (3917O) / 15 Mar 1988] by Butterfield & Butterfield

Butterfield & Butterfield auction house, San F more...0 points

Welcome to my lens! Please leave behind a friendly paw-print! Thanks

  • JaguarJulie Oct 10, 2010 @ 4:34 am | delete
    This is absolutely beautiful -- love all the gold filigree -- it looks very royal.
  • someofmyfavoritethings Oct 24, 2009 @ 11:22 am | delete
    Check out my site...
    http://some-of-my-favorite-things.com/meiji-satsuma/
  • Jun 17, 2008 @ 2:19 am | delete
    Yes!
    this is very good lens and great information about Japanese Satsuma porcelain and I like it very much.
    If you feel free please visit my lens at heavy equipment.
  • CollectorsCottage Jul 15, 2007 @ 11:48 am | delete
    Another great 5 star lens! Beautiful pics too.
  • irishlass Apr 28, 2007 @ 3:50 pm | delete
    I hope you'll consider making a recommendation for my Fabulous Places contest. The details are here
    http://www.squidoo.com/fabulousplaces/
    thanks,
    julie
  • wildrosetreasure Apr 26, 2007 @ 5:01 am | delete
    Nice informative lens. Thanks for sharing this great information. Added you to my lens roll and to my research link.
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