An extremely rare and important Ko-Kutani calligraphy water dropper (suiteki) in the form of an eggplant (aubergine), the surface covered in a rich lapis lazuli ruri glaze and enamelled with a landscape and pavillion scene in red enamel, gold and silver ginsai decoration, 
 
Ko-Kutani ruri ginsai type, Arita ware, Hizen province, Japan
Edo Period (mid-17th century), Meireki-Manji period
circa 1655-60
 
Of extraordinarily finely modelled naturalistic form, the substantially potted bulbous body in the form of an eggplant, covered with an extremely pleasing ruri blue ground (lapis lazuli) glaze, the naturalistically moulded leaves of the eggplant picked out with gold and red enamel, the stem of the eggplant opening to an upwards-pointing mouth with a small pierced airhole nearby among the leaves, the body enamelled with gold, silver and red decoration depicting landscape scene featuring an exotic hut on an rocky embankment surrounded by pine trees and cliffs. The base unglazed.
 
Condition:
In perfect original condition with virtually no wear to the enamelling.
 
Measurements:
7.5 cm high by 7.5 cm long
 
The form is likely derived from Chinese examples of the Ming dynasty, such as the aubergine water-dropper in The British Museum PDF B694 described as "Porcelain water-dropper in form of an aubergine with stem-shaped spout with relief leaves....Naturalistic details painted on the leaves and stem. Ming Dynasty circa 1590-1610". The British Museum notes that "the water dropper is in the form of an aubergine. As demand for the court declined, Jingdezhen potters eagerly accepted orders from middle-class customers in China, as well as exporting wares to Europe and Japan....Marine archaeologists have recovered water dropper of this type from the sunken cargo of the ship the San Diego which sank in Manila Bay in 1600 A.D".
 
When the Chinese kilns at Jingdezgen fell silent after the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644, the Dutch East India Company looked to Japan as an alternative supplier for porcelain to be sold in The West. In 1657, the Directors of the East India Company in Amsterdam requested Japanese models and samples of Japanese porcelain as a reaction to the private trade already growing in the 1650s between Japanese merchants and private European traders (Fitski, 2003). These early samples of Japanese porcelain were provided to the Dutch East India Directors by Zacharias Wagenaer, acting as Principal in Japan for the Dutch East India Company (Opperhoofd) in Deshima, who sent 'a case with various kinds of fine porcelain as a sample for the fatherland' (Jorg, p.155) which arrived in Amsterdam in 1658. Duplicates of these samples were retained in Deshima awaiting the Dutch orders. The order was compiled in 1658 and the documents were sent back to Japan aboard the Zwarte Bul which sank in 1659 between Batavia and Japan - leaving Wagenaer uncertain of which porcelains the Directors had chosen.  To expediate the trade, Wagenaer had decided to send back an assortment of his own choosing, writing in his report of 10th December 1659: "....I had contracted with a certain person for about 200 pieces after my own invention, to be made curiously on a blue ground with small silver and gold tendrilwork" (T. Volker 1954, p.136). These blue ground pieces called ruri Kutani were among the earliest Japanese porcelains shipped to Europe, according to Dr. Oliver Impey. The striking early blue ground Arita wares - which Impey suggests may be the origin of the Chinese 'powder blue' of the Kangzi period (Ashmolean Museum, p.95) - are extremely rare but examples exist in the British Museum, the Groningen Museum, and Hampton Court (London, UK).
 
According to Idemitsu Museum of Arts "It is thought that gold, silver, and silver began to be used in the 1650s as decorations for specially ordered and expensive vessels, and there is a mention of gold, silver, and color in the "Kaku", a document of the art school which notes that "gold and silver decorated pieces under special order were requested by Chinshiki Yuchu, Tanshu Midori, Iribe no Bushi, Noso Kurobei-dono's intermediary, Hatte Mt. On a certain occasion, he presented a Mt. Fuji-shaped pot decorated with gold and silver and a choko cup to Tanshu-sama (the second lord of the Nabe Tame domain, Mitsushige) at his private club. It seems that gold wire decoration had begun by the year 1658.  In the case of this gold and silver painting, the overglaze is made of only red paint with plenty of space, creating a tasteful and elegant style. It's unique. Lazuli glaze is known at the end of the Ming dynasty in China and it is clear that it was popular in China at the time. The director of the Dutch trading post in Nagasaki, wrote, 'I have created around 200 pieces of special porcelain decorated with small silver arabesque patterns in the castle ring, to bring to Batavia as samples for my homeland....' This lapis lazuli glazed product is called "Ruri Kutani" and it has been excavated from both the Kutani kiln and the Hizen kiln."