This octagonal plate is decorated in blue and white with a floral design set against geometric shapes, a pairing that turns up often in Japanese export porcelain of the period, where formal pattern work and looser floral painting sat comfortably side by side on the same piece. It's marked for Seiji Kaisha, one of the trading companies that handled export porcelain out of Arita during the Meiji period, often working with kilns such as Koransha — founded by the Fukagawa family — to bring Japanese porcelain to Western markets under a single export mark.
The octagonal shape itself was a deliberate departure from the round plates more familiar to Western tables, giving Japanese exporters a way to signal something distinctly foreign and desirable to buyers abroad without straying from the blue and white palette that had already proven popular.
Condition notes
Very good antique condition. Some scuffing to the surface of the glaze; scuffing along the edge of the rim; 3 small chips to the underside of the rim.
