Featured Nippon Game Birds Set, Help with Key Words

Super nice set set. The other birds may be Grouse?

 

I think you are correct. It may be a 'married' set.

 

I'll try to address some of the questions raised:

The marks, both blue and green, are identical in size and are the 1/4". The plates with the green mark also have some tiny impressed numbers/letters. Looks like "0 175 VO" or "0 175 YO". Whether the Os are 0s or vice-versa, I'm not sure. They're round, not oval.

All of the beading and gold encrustation matches from plate to plate to platter. the platter has a double row of gold beading near the edge, while the plates all have a single row. The difference pointed out by cluttered closet is just lighting. I took the photos on the dining room table with a 10 light chandelier above, so the light was kind of spotty.

There is a slight "pie crust" (if that's the right term--kind of like fork marks you'd make on the edge of the crust") ripple near the edge of the plates. It's slightly more pronounced on some plates, but my old camera may not be picking up this detail in the photos. I think what you're seeing--lines on some but not on others--is from the lighting. In person, there's virtually no difference.

The placement of the beaded cartouches is not exact. The platter has a beaded cartouche centered on the rim above the ring neck pheasants. One green marked plate and one blue marked plate have a beaded cartouche centered on the rim above the bird, the same as the platter. The other 4, whether marked in green or blue, are not exact in cartouche placement--there's a bit of variation from plate to plate.

There's less than 1/8" difference in diameter among the plates--from 8 5/8" to just under 8 3/4" (my measurement may not be exact). It has no relationship to the color of the mark. I'm no expert, but I think the slight variation isn't significant.

I'm not expert enough to determine if the centers are transfers with painted accent. I looked through a magnifying glass under strong light and kept rotating the plates. I didn't see any dots but I could see extremely fine brush strokes.

Hope this helps, and thanks again for all the great information!

 

THAT is one STUPENDOUSLY STUNNING SET!!!!!!!

 

Wow, I've never seen a Nippon set like this! Absolutely stunning.

 

@ascot Thank you for your detailed explanation of what I was seeing. Very difficult when we are only looking at pictures.

If there are no dots, not transfer.
This picture clip clearly shows these to be hand painted.



As everyone has said - Absolutely Stunning.
I would have a very hard time selling this. And it isn't even anything like what I collect.

 

Similar set, same pheasant transfer (if hand-painted, there would be inconsistencies in the sizes, placement, details on the feathers, etc.): https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/28308987_7pc-impressive-nippon-porcelain-pheasant-game-service

~Cheryl

 

Hi
I understand completely what you are saying about discrepancies in hand painted items (Size and placement).

The question now becomes - How did the Japanese do their transfers that doesn't show any dots.
There must have been a master stencil that was used to be hand painted over.

I still think these have been hand colored.

As you can clearly see between the two patterns. These had to have been hand painted.


The differences in the blades of grass

Red pattern
Green pattern

Red
Foliage above head ( green)

Two trees in the red pattern different plates - no small branch above the head


There are other differences that I see, but don't want to take up too much space.



BTW
Good find on the green set.

 

Cluttered--you're a first rate sleuth! Thank you for taking so much time and effort to solve the mysteries. And Cheryl, thank you for finding the similar set--I must've googled this 25 times and never found that set.

I've looked at the plates again and again, and there is variation in the painting--branches, height of plants, feathering on the birds, etc. The differences are subtle and remind me of those puzzles that ask you to find 5 different things about 2 drawings that at first glance are identical. So, I believe they're hand painted, and kudos to the artist(s).

 

Eh, just googled "Nippon pheasant" and that set came right up. Won't comment any past this, because they're your plates and it's not really important to me since I'm not buying them. There will be some differences because of the hand-painted accents, embellishments, whatever you'd want to call them - but the core of the scenes, the birds, the trees, the positions and details of those main elements are identical, if you made transparencies and overlaid them, they would line up. No artist could or would do that...

~Cheryl

 

And I totally agree with that.

The question still remains how did the Japanese do their transfers?

English, German, American transfers all have dots.
Some transfers are indeed hand painted, but the dots show underneath.

All I'm saying is that although the basic pattern may have a master transfer pattern, the rest is all hand painted.

 

I agree. Thanks so much!