This pair of similarly designed ceramic vases feature an orange-red color over a white background. The base tapers up slightly and narrows abruptly at the neck. A design featuring flowers, trees, and birds in a deeper orange color and gold leaf decorates the exterior. The potter, of the Kakiemon family, was likely Kakiemon XIII.
Kakiemon is a style of Japanese enameled ceramics, traditionally produced at the factories of Arita, in Japan's Hizen province (today, Saga Prefecture) from the mid-17th century onwards. The Japanese potter Sakaida Kakiemon (1596-1666) is popularly credited with being one of the first in Japan to discover the secret of enamel decoration on porcelain, known as akae. The name "Kakiemon" was bestowed upon Sakaida by his lord, after he perfected a design of twin persimmons (kaki), developing as well the distinctive palette of soft red, yellow, blue, and turquoise green now associated with the Kakiemon style.
