Hirado (Jap.)

A Japanese porcelain type characterized by its pure white body and clear glaze, often adorned with fine painting in underglaze blue. Some pieces are embellished with brown glaze. Others, more rarely, are covered with a fine celadon glaze. While Japanese scholars often technically refer to this material as Mikawachi ware, the popular term in both Japan and the West is Hirado ware.

Japanese porcelain with figure and landscape painting in blue on a white body, often depicting boys at play, made exclusively for the Lords of Hirado, near Arita, in the mid 18th to mid 19th centuries.

Back to Chinese Porcelain Collectors Page

© Jan-Erik Nilsson, Gothenburg, Sweden 1998-2007