Satsuma vs Satsuma

Hi y’all,

I introduced myself and the current quest in the Introductions. Apologies if I mess up the photos.

So I bought a five-euro Satsuma vase at a Rome fleamarket in 2017 or so and don’t expect it to have appreciated much since. The second one was bought from a Lisbon antique shop a few years after that. I think I paid something like 140 euros as the shopkeeper refused to lower the price. To an untrained eye, the difference in quality is obvious.

The second vase is yellowish earthenware with a finely crackled glaze and the body doesn’t ring when tapped ( yes, I did my due diligence at Gothenburg before posting )
The style is closest to Yasui but I think the brush strokes on mine are finer than in the Gothenburg example, and the mark doesn’t look like the same one — to me.

I’d be really grateful if someone who reads Japanese could translate the mark of the second vase.

 

pics are fine........
it's the weekend so folks flit in and out.....but this will get seen in due course !!

 

Thanks — first time I tried resizing photos on my phone…

 

The second one reads 'Satsuma' in Kanji (shortened version), so unfortunately it's not going to be possible to trace the maker.

There is huge variation in Satsuma quality, as the Japanese economy was failing prior to WW2 and sales for exports of this type of item dried up they became increasingly desperate. Some factories tried to minimise costs by reducing quality, many went out of business and very few survived WW2. The best Satsuma was produced from around 1870-1900, there are some amazing pieces which seem a world away from the 1930's moriage type.

 

Thank you so much! I’d seen some of your earlier replies and was hoping you’d be kind enough to comment.

Good thing I didn’t expect it to be a priceless antique —I was basically hoping it was worth what I paid for it.

Given the Portuguese traders were the first Europeans to sail to Japan in 1543 (introducing shotguns to the locals and taking back goods and slaves as they were used to doing in all the places they “found”) one might’ve expected to see more Japanese ceramics here in Lisbon than I actually have, even in museums. Then again, I may not have known what to look for…

 

It's probably because most pieces are from the mid 19th century onwards and were made for export. Satsuma, Kutani and much Imari were made for export and not for the home market. 18th century pieces don't really resemble what we think of as Japanese, and they are much rarer.

 

Yes, that’s what I thought — that I didn’t know what to look for.
I’d taken cursory look at Gothenburg when I first bought the vase but I really know next to nothing about (Japanese) or any ceramics in general.

Edit: I was just thinking there might be some Japanese influence in the famous Portuguese ceramics but the usual suspects are the Moores (colourful tiles) and China through Holland for the blue and white azulejos.