Hand Painted Oriental - Unkown

Name: Hand Painted Oriental
 
Type: Small Decorative Dishes
 
Year: Mid-20th century, c. 1950s–1970s
 
Set: Yes ( Two small decorative dishes, maker unknown possibly frommthe same or different maker)
 
Mark: Unkown - Dish 1: Possibly Japanese; mark appears to be a stylized Kutani-style seal mark, Dish 2: Chinese export porcelain, Decorated in Hong Kong
 
History: Dish 1 – Floral dish with orange diaper pattern and cloud cartouches
 
 
This small saucer features a typical design seen in Japanese export porcelain, with alternating panels (cartouches) on an orange lattice-patterned ground, a central medallion, and stylized florals. The backstamp is a red six-character seal mark, written in vertical script, imitating earlier Chinese Kangxi-style reign marks, but this one is most likely Japanese. It reads approximately as a stylized "大日本 Kutani 製" (Dai Nippon Kutani Sei), meaning “Great Japan Kutani made,” although it does not exactly match standard printed marks. This piece likely originates from a post-war Japanese workshop producing export wares in the Kutani tradition during the mid-20th century, when many such items were hand-painted in small-scale kilns.
 
 
Dish 2 – Blue Imari-style floral bowl with 'Decorated in Hong Kong' mark
 
 
The second dish exhibits a palette strongly aligned with the Imari aesthetic: cobalt underglaze blue with iron red, green, and gold overglaze enamel. The floral design is ringed with a lively pattern of stylized petals and waves. The base is stamped in iron red with the phrase "Decorated in Hong Kong," over a smudged cobalt blue character mark, which is likely a remnant of an earlier transfer. This practice — blank export whiteware decorated post-firing in Hong Kong — was very common in the 1950s–70s. These porcelain blanks were typically Chinese-made, and Hong Kong artists added the vivid enameling.
 
 
Although both dishes share a similar size, function, and aesthetic influence, they are not from the same maker. One is of Japanese Kutani tradition, and the other is Chinese export ware enhanced in Hong Kong.
 
Flaws: Slight fading of gilt on one dish and an indistinctive ship on one of the rims