Tempo era (1830-1844), with six-character seal on bottom reading Honcho Tenpo nensei, large porcelain charger decorated in underglaze blue with a map of Japan, as drawn in the Edo period showing the main islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, divided into the 63 provinces with the names of the provinces written in kanji, the main islands of Japan are surrounded by several islands, there are two stylized cranes flying at the top and bottom of the plate, comes in an inscribed wooden presentation box.

Diameter: 18 7/8 in.

Collection of Doug Eyre, Professor Emeritus of Geography at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Given to him from the city of Hiroshima as a gift for his service to the city.

For two other map dishes in the collection of the Kyushu Ceramic Museum see Robert Singer, Edo: Art in Japan 1615-1868, exhibition catalog (Washington, D. C.: National Gallery of Art, 1998), plates. 141, 142; Also very similar Arita Map Plate in the Avery Brundage Collection at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco (B72P1)

Excellent condition.

$1,000 - 1,500