Japanese 8" CPO "Koshida Co." Satsuma "Wisteria" Vase / Middle Showa Period 1945-60

This was a nice little find at GW's. It was on the show case wall behind a larger vase. The price was very good for what I assumed was just an attractive piece of mid-century Japanese pottery. Beautiful hand painted Wisteria with gold out lining in excellent condition. No chip, nicks, or cracks and zero wear. It's marked "CPO" Koshida plus two gold character marks on the bottom indicating it's Koshida Satsuma. Gotheborg's site says..""CPO" meaning Central Purchasing Office. The use of this double marking indicates that such marked items were sold on the U.S. Army and Navy Bases in Japan. The tentative date is to the 1950s. Koshida seems to have been a prolific maker of Satsuma from at least the 1880's. Much of their production was decorated by some of the best artists and bears their marks as well as Koshida's. Koshida would have closed it's doors about the same time as the Kinkozan factory (1927) The business seems to have reopened after the war, either by a family member or by someone simply using a well known name as a cachet. I'm very pleased with this piece which caught me by complete surprise. :) -Mike-

Here's the link to one on Ebay that sold in May of 2014:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-JAPANESE-KOSHIDA-SATSUMA-EARTHENWARE-WISTERIA-VASE-/221226724026