Japanese 12" Satsuma Export Ware Vase / Late Meiji-Early Showa Period /Circa 1890-1920's

Found this little treasure in the showcase of our local Goodwill. The design on this 12" vase is really over the top. Each side has a different scene of Samurai warlords in fantastic and ornate battle armor. You can barely see their faces for all the gold and raised enamel detail. It's in surprisingly great shape with no apparent damage or paint loss. The bottom has a mark. Gotheborg's site has a similar mark that was used to designate "right" of a pair or it's position in a set. The single line could be "ichi" or the number one. I'm fairly sure this is an export Meiji era piece or just a tad outside that time period say to 1920 or the early Showa period. Value for these is fairly modest because a lot were made and are still copied. Not to everyone's taste, but I love Asian ceramics and pottery and this is a beauty ! -Mike-

SATSUMA WARE
Courtesy of Gotheborg.com

The typical Satsuma ware we most of the time come into contact with is a yellowish earthenware usually decorated with a minute decoration with Japanese figures, expressive faces or detailed oriental landscapes, or sometimes embellished with vivid dragons in relief. This ware is in fact an export product specifically designed in the mid 19th century to cater to the western export market. The Japanese themselves had very little interest in this ware.
From around the 1890's to the early 1920's at least twenty larger studios or factories were producing "Satsuma" wares of which much were of low quality and destined for the European and American export markets.
At the same time, other artists were producing exquisite wares of the highest quality. There were many masterpieces created during its heyday and several studios have created eternal fame for their names with these magnificent wares. Most high quality export 'Satsuma' is easily recognized by its finely crackled glaze and by the fact that its yellowish earthenware body does not "ring" when tapped. The production soon spread to several cities such as Kyoto, Tokyo, Nagoya, Yokohama and elsewhere throughout Japan, from the Meiji period (1868-1912) up until today.