Antique Japanese Kutani Aka-e Plate Rakan Buddhist Figures Landscape Gold Meiji

Japanese Kutani Aka-e Plate Rakan Buddhist Figures Landscape Gold Meiji

Japan, Meiji period, c. 1880–1910

Approx. 8 in. dia (20 cm); Weight:

A fine Kutani (九谷) porcelain plate of above-average decorative ambition, painted in the aka-e (赤絵) overglaze enamel tradition with a complex multi-cartouche composition centered on a large rakan-zu (羅漢図) — a gathering of Buddhist arhats (羅漢, rakan), the enlightened disciples of the Buddha. Fifteen or more figures are depicted in close assembly: reading sutras, meditating, conversing — each rendered with individualized facial expression and gestural detail that distinguishes this from routine export figure painting. The robes are worked in iron-red with fine gold arabesque and linear detailing; the ground is a burnished gold field that anchors the composition with considerable richness. Flanking cartouches complete the iconographic program: a mountain landscape with temple pavilion (sansui-zu, 山水図) in the upper left, its ink-toned peaks and pine forest receding convincingly into distance; a magnolia or camellia blossom spray in gold and amber upper right; and a geometric iron-red lattice panel to the left. Gold scrollwork fills the intervening iron-red ground throughout. The exterior reverse carries a light but well-executed secondary decoration of iron-red grasses, scattered folding fans with lattice infill, and small floral sprays — a refined touch seldom seen on pieces of this price tier. The base bears the three-character red enamel mark 九谷造 (Kutani-zō).

Condition: Very good; enamel and gold decoration intact with strong color and detail. No chips, cracks, or repairs noted.

A Kutani plate of genuine quality — the rakan subject, the individualized figure drawing, and the gold-ground cartouche treatment place this well above standard Meiji export production.