Set of six dishes

Kitaoji Rosanjin (1883–1959)—calligrapher, gourmand, cultural impresario—began designing ceramics in order to provide tableware that met his standards for the restaurant “Hoshigaoka” that he ran in Tokyo. He conducted his earliest collaboration with two porcelain potters from Ishikawa prefecture, adding his own decoration to the shapes they threw, glazed and fired for him. These six rare early porcelain dishes marked with the Hoshigaoka star-shaped insignia bear swift, simple decoration painted in copper-red pigment beneath a silky glaze. The idea of using volatile copper with its tendency to turn gray—here anticipated to advantage—could have come from Chinese Yuan or Korean Joseon porcelain.