Pair of Vintage Japanese Porcelain Blue and White Pots. Decorated with different oriental medallions. 

Size (each): 9 x 9 x 9 in. 

#7131 . 

During Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s 1592 invasion of Korea, Japanese forces brought captured Korean potters to Japan, forcing many to work as slaves. One of the kidnapped potters, Yi Sam-pyeong, supposedly discovered a source of clay near Arita suitable for making porcelain, and was able to produce what is generally regarded as the first Japanese porcelain. Many potters also brought knowledge of improved kiln technology, such as the noborigama or rising kiln which enabled temperatures of 2,550 degrees Fahrenheit to be reached. By the beginning of the 1600s there were kilns firing in Satsuma, Hagi, Karatsu, Takatori, Agano and Arita. In the 1640s rebellions in China and wars between the Ming Dynasty and the Manchus damaged many Chinese kilns, and between 1656 and 1684 the new Qing Dynasty closed all ports to foreign trade. Numerous Chinese refugees fled the continent, taking refined porcelain techniques and enamel glazes to the Arita kilns. From 1658 onward, the Dutch East India Company looked to Japan to supply the beloved blue-and-white style porcelain to sell in Europe. From 1659 to 1740 the Arita kilns expanded exponentially, able to export enormous quantities of porcelain to Europe and Asia. By the early 1700s the recovered Chinese kilns as well as European kilns were beginning to imitate the Japanese Imari enameled style, crashing the first Golden Age of the Japanese export porcelain market.