Round Japanese pottery vase in dark blue with lighter blue streaks and flecks across body and large, circular opening at top, standing on raised ring foot. Marked JAPAN on base. Produced c. 1920s or 1930s.

Size: 5 x 5 x 4 1/2 in. 

#2278 #6 . 

Pottery and porcelain is one of the oldest Japanese crafts and art forms, dating back to the Neolithic period. Japanese earthenwares have been found dating to the Jōmon period (10,500-300 BC), one of the oldest known ceramic traditions in the world. Since the 4th Century AD, Japanese ceramics have often been influenced by the artistic sensibilities of neighboring East Asian civilizations such as China and Korea. Since the mid-17th Century when Japan began industrializing, high-quality standard wares produced in factories became popular exports to Europe. In the 20th century, a homegrown cottage ceramics industry emerged, often connected to a specific prefecture. Japanese pottery is distinguished by two polarized aesthetic traditions: very simple and roughly finished pottery, mostly hand-made with a muted palette of dark colors, often associated with Zen Buddhism and the Japanese tea ceremony, or highly finished and brightly colored factory wares, usually porcelain, with complex and balanced decoration. A third tradition, of simple but perfectly formed and glazed stonewares, is a combination of Chinese and Korean styles. 

This particular piece is likely Agano ware, from the town of Fukuchi in Fukuoka Prefecture, originating from 1602 when the Korean potter Sonkai Joseon was captured and brought to Japan to develop kilns for the shogun.

Good.