The bowl with a slightly rounded body resting on a short cylindrical foot. The inside with a decor of phoenix and cherry blossoms in diamonds with cash coins ground. The outside with quails among the millets. The base with Fuku mark in black and green overglaze enamels. The dark palette, using yellow, dark green, reddish orange, blue and aubergine enamels, as well as the decoration are characteristic of the porcelain called gosaide ko-kutani (« old kutani in five colors”). This new range of enamels appears in the late 1640’s, under the impulse of the daimyos of the Nabeshima clan. The decoration of these porcelains frequently mix geometric patterns and traditional realistic elements. The combination of quail and millet (shigi to awa) is usual in japanese art. It apparently would be an allusion to the city of Fukakusa (near of Kyoto).

Bibliography 

KLEIN Adalbert. La Céramique Japonaise, le Guide du connaisseur. Fig. 149, p. 130.

SHIMIZU Christine. La Porcelaine japonaise. P. 49. (a cup with « tortoise shell » hexagonal pattern, dated 1650-1660, Idemitsu Art Museum, Tokyo)