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This summer has been interesting. Typically, our consumer mix those months includes a variety of foreign travelers from Australia, Europe, and Japan. Many opt for tours of the wonderful American Southwest, passing through Palm Springs on their way from Las Vegas to San Diego or from the Grand Canyon to Disneyland.
This year, however, foreign tourists have been relatively few, likely worried about returning home due to some other COVID shutdown. Although the business has been very smart overall, we miss the cultural flavor that comes from those travelers. While they’re away, we’ve collected some artifacts that they’ll love when they return. One of them is Satsuma pottery.
While most of our Asian consumers will recognize Satsuma pieces as high-end pottery from southern Japan, the call is also attached to a fruit, a snail, and at least 4 American cities, among others. In fact, the original Satsuma is a province in southern Japan and the region that gave rise to the earthenware of the same name.
The first pieces of Satsuma were baked around the year 1600 and were largely undecorated, only gray pots and bowls that reflected the herbal color of the local clay. With the discovery of giant deposits of this clay, Korean potters were brought in to teach. the locals and a new industry going on.
During the first two hundred years, few adjustments in the manufacture of Satsuma. The pottery was utilitarian, intended for domestic use rather than to be exhibited. However, at the dawn of the nineteenth century new enameling strategies were introduced, in -sowing under which hand-painted floral motifs sprouted with brightness and depth.
When Japan opened its borders to Westerners in the nineteenth century, new potters emerged in and around Satsuma to meet the growing foreign demand for such pieces. Painted images have become more elaborate and floral motifs gave way to a wide variety of ornamental scenes. However, at the end of the century, a change in foreign tastes caused a drop in Satsuma’s exports, as creditors turned to less garish models. To the extent that the Japanese domestic market had never followed the trend, a number of mass manufacturers withered and died.
Despite its trials and tribulations, Satsuma pottery continues to seduce today. Its brilliant enamel-on-enamel aesthetic remains popular with designers, and workshops continue to manufacture quality in Satsuma Province.
As with so many categories, counterfeiting has become a problem, as some manufacturers pass off inferior works as true Satsuma. Genuine things regularly (but not always) use blue as their number one color and are made of stoneware clay rather than porcelain. The faucet on the back of the clay boxes deserves to produce a ringing sound that is not emitted through the porcelain pieces. Footprints Shimazu or Dai Nippon.
Fortunately for us, the appeal of Asian pieces is limited to Asian visitors. Decorative items from all over the Far East remain popular with all kinds of buyers, whether they are collectors, designers or stylish owners.
The Coachella Valley has long been a hotbed of Asian ornaments with many types available. The heaviness of Victorian brown furniture has given way to lighter and brighter furniture, a taste that is perfectly suited to Satsuma. serious collection, this is possibly what you need.
Mike Rivkin and his wife, Linda, are longtime citizens of Rancho Mirage. For many years, he has been an award-winning catalog publisher and is the author of seven books as well as countless articles. He is now the owner of the Palm Springs Antique Galleries. His column on antiques appears on Sundays in The Desert Sun. Want to send Mike an antique inquiry? Write to info@silverfishpress. com.
This article was originally published in Palm Springs Desert Sun: Antiques: Satsuma – High-end pottery from southern Japan