Japanese Satsuma Porcelain Lidded Urn

A row of court ladies, hair lacquered black, gathers around a smoking censer.

This Satsuma porcelain lidded urn is from Japan and dates to the Meiji Period (1868 – 1912 CE), in painted and gilded porcelain. Meiji decorators working in the Satsuma style often filled every inch with figures and gold, a taste aimed squarely at foreign buyers. Here seated women in green and gold robes turn toward one another, one beside a tall incense stand trailing a thread of smoke. A molded gilt cord ties around the shoulder, and the lid and foot carry tight gold patterning on brown. It is 7.5 inches high and 6 in diameter.

The conversation has run well over a century, and the incense is holding up.