Large Arita bowl with hand painting in Hirado or Nabeshima style

This important bowl has a continuous landscape painted in underglaze cobalt blue around the interior in excellent Chinese or Nanga style, including an ancient pine tree, a scholar's pavilion overlooking the water at a remove from a country estate of several buildings, small houses along the water, flights of birds, cloud formations, rocky mountains with moss, and other trees and landscape details.    The quality of the painting is extremely high both in skill and execution:  sharp clear lines with excellent ink-painting shading.  Please click image above for enlarged view.   The outside (see view below, where color is more accurate; here also click image for larger view) has a continuous pattern of waves with dots of foam flying, also in underglaze cobalt blue.

Arita (Imari) in Hirado or Nabeshima style -- a future owner may decide it is actually one of these wares.  Of  heavy, very white porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue hand painting, without flaws or damage of any kind; no marks on base.

The bowl measures 14" in diameter, 5 1/2" high; the foot ring is 7 7/8" in diameter and about 1/2" deep on the inside, about 7/8" high on the outside; c. 1830.

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