Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Soon it became clear that Mr Ingram wanted to buy a good collection of Satsuma pottery. He disliked the heavily decorated and gilded ‘Satsuma’ style ceramics being produced for export in several workshops in the Awata area of Kyoto, close to the Miyako Hotel. Instead he preferred a more restrained type of decoration which leaves more of the crackled surface exposed, many of which were made in southern Kyushu, the former domain of the Satsuma lords. A few pieces were found along the way, but it was not until the final few days that his wish was granted.

Satsuma baluster vase with plum blossom (EA1956.664) Satsuma vase with chrysanthemums and floral scrolls (EA1956.668) Satsuma vase with flowers and geometric patterns (EA1956.709)

As soon as a foreigner checked in to a hotel, the 'curio' dealers were alerted and would appear to offer their goods. Two of these men in particular took up Mr Ingram's search for Satsuma pottery and appear to have followed him around the country. One, whose name was Matsuzawa and who ran a shop in Miyanoshita, near Mount Fuji, managed the final coup, introducing Mr Ingram to a 'retired sumo wrestler' in Tokyo, the majority of whose collection he bought on their penultimate day in Japan. His diary for 23rd May begins 'The great Satsuma day!!' and ends 'after somewhat prolonged discussions, I got the pieces I wanted but did not get to bed until nearly 11'.

Page from Herbert Ingram's diary.

The following day he bought some more pieces of Satsuma from Matsuzawa.

Satsuma cake or sweets dish with crane and turtle (EA1956.2017) Satsuma box in the form of a rat sitting on a turnip (EA1956.695)

Lady Ingram, who by the 1930s had developed a great interest in the Japanese things they had collected, wrote a number of articles for Connoisseur magazine. Her article entitled 'Double Glaze Satsuma' begins, 'There is now on loan at the Victoria and Albert Museum a very interesting collection of old Japanese double glaze Satsuma, belonging to Sir Herbert Ingram, Bart.' She believed that the specimens were 'exceedingly scarce...practically all made for the prince's court'. Sadly, most of the Ingrams's Satsuma pieces which they had bought from the wrestler were no more than thirty years old at the very most. This illustrates the traps that many foreigners fell into when buying artefacts in Japan around the turn of the 20th century.

By 1908 there was still not much published in English on Japanese art and since most foreign visitors to Japan were unable to read Japanese signatures, collecting was somewhat of a minefield and one in which the Japanese dealers came off very well indeed. She illustrates teabowls, vases, incense burners, and figures. A 'gu' shaped vase with simple geometric borders and central band, similar to the one illustrated in Lady Ingram's article, is probably the oldest piece in the collection but dates only to the mid-19th century. It has been broken and repaired with gold lacquer, which indicates that it was considered a treasure by its former owner.

Satsuma vase with geometric borders (EA1956.3989) Satsuma vase illustrated in Lady's Ingram's Connoisseur article.

Satsuma hot water pourer with pine, bamboo, and plum (EA1956.691) Satsuma teabowls illustrated in Lady Ingram's Connoisseur article (object pictured on top far right).

The 'teabowl' (actually a water cooler) illustrated on the top far right of the photo (EA1956.691) was bought for 60 yen in Kyoto from the dealer Yasuda.

Yokohama was the Ingrams's next port of call. Here, surprisingly, considering the number of high quality antique shops, they bought mainly silks and linens and organized the shipping of their first load.