Rare Japanese Satsuma dish with Ancient Egyptian motifs, c. 1920

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Remarkable Japanese Satsuma dish, with petal-lobed rim, painted rim-to-rim in raised enamels with ascent of a seated man in conversation with two human-headed birds (!) perched on a table, within a Greek-key border & turquoise rim.

Unmarked,

earlier 20th century

19.5cm

Excellent condition

This amusing Japanese-take on an ancient Egyptian theme suggests the artist had seen an Egyptian tomb painting; the figure looks like Osiris wearing his crown, the bird-men are like ‘Ba’ birds (the spirits of the deceased – usually just one per burial) – and the background – with a fish flying through the air – is suggestive of hieroglyphic inscriptions. Perhaps it reflects the treasures that came out of Tutankhamen’s tomb after the 1923 opening, when international press published a lot of images from Ancient Egypt as ‘Egyptomania’ gripped their readers… and apparently Satsuma artists!

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