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

Squat baluster porcelain vase with moulded white body and three panels painted in underglaze copper red with chickens, temple buildings in a landscape with Mount Fuji and samurai with attendants beside a stream. Silver mounted rim. Signed with underglaze blue seal-mark on the base; Makusu gama Kōzan sei (made at the Makusu Kōzan kiln).

The deeply moulded pattern resembles that on a vase, now in the Khalili Collection, that Miyagawa (Makuzu) Kōzan (1842-1916) exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. His family name was Miyagawa, but he is usually referred to by his art name, Makuzu. His kiln was at Ōta, in Yokohama, and such was his versatility that he was sometimes, in his lifetime, called 'The wizard of Ōta'. Kōzan was so eclectic in his choice of styles that it is difficult to date his work; the most successful dating system is based upon the shape and style of signature, for he seems to have changed the signature several times. The blue and white seal-style signatures are actually written, not stamped.