The shape of Japan on the map plate is in fact quite antiquated, and the outline is inferior to more accurate maps of Japan that had been relatively commonplace for over 200 years. Fifty years earlier, in 1779, an extensive and detailed map of Japan had been constructed by Nagakubo Sekisui, based on surveys earlier in the century and the plate's simpler form is known as the Gyōgi type, so-called after a Buddhist priest Gyōgi Bosatsu who lived 668-749 and who is said to have made the first general map of Japan in the eighth century.


Decorative Gyōgi-type maps were retained for cultural and historical reasons for centuries afterwards. Similarly-shaped maps have been found on the back of seventeenth-century metallic mirrors. One of these, believed to be by Hikomi Masachika, shows roads linking the provinces but otherwise the general outline is very close to the relief on the map plate illustrated.

A similar, but not identical, circular map plate was described some years ago by Curtis A. Manchester in Imago Mundi. He referred to the characteristic clarity of the white background as typical of Hirado ware of that time (1830-1843), which is said to '... excel most porcelain of the world in the perfection of its body glaze and modelling'. Manchester concluded that the plate's material was composed of powdered white stone from Amakura, a small island to the south-east of Hirado. The firing probably took place in the kilns of Mikawachi under the patronage of the Matsuuva family who were the daimyo or feudal lords of Hirado. Laurence Smith's observations also refer to map plate output from the Mikawachi kilns in the Arita area. Another writer. T. Volker, describes a Gyōgi-type map plate, similar to that of the author's but oblong in shape. This example, from the National Museum for Ethnology in Leiden, is made of very hard clear white porcelain with a deep blue glaze.

Earlier plates or dishes with map designs on them have been identified dating from the last part of the eighteenth century, and often ascribed to Hiraga Gennai (1726-1779). Two such map plates 34 and 37 centimetres in diameter are illustrated in the compendious volume Old Maps in Japan, and are green with orange enscribed borders. Other map plates described in this work are blue and white, with brocaded borders: one is of the main Kyushu island only and another is of the perceived world at that time. Another map of Japan, more accurate in outline than those of Gyōgi origin, appears on a rectangular pottery tray.

The British Library's exhibition of Chinese and Japanese maps in 1974 included an eighteenth century tray of this kind. A similar example — a twelve-inch square tray with splayed feet — is recorded in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. These trays are of soft green glazed pottery and carry relatively sophisticated maps of Japan with degrees of latitude on the east and west borders.

Octagonal plates, as well as oval and circular dishes with scrolled edges, are known from the Bunsei (1818-1829) just prior to the Tempo period. The late American collector George Beans classifies some of these as Kutani ware and refers to others as Imari ware dating from c. 1840. George Kish (writing in 1954) describes 'A Map of the World on an old Imari Plate' in which the lands surrounding the central map of Japan are said to be the countries of Asia and Europe (top left). Australia (at the bottom) and the Americas (to the right). The port of Imari in north-western Kyushu was often used for shipping out ceramic ware to the region, including map plates from kilns in the vicinity. However, the term 'Imari' is more usually conferred on porcelain with stronger decorative features and richer colours; typically dark rust and blackish-blue, often with added gilding. The plates described by Beans and Kish were not of this type.

A few weeks after writing this article I happened to be in Christie's, the London auction house, and noticed a rectangular map plate on view prior to one of their Far Eastern sales. It was described in the catalogue as 'An interesting Arita blue and white rectangular dish painted in underglaze blue and moulded in low relief with a map of Japan including the straits and outer islands and parts of Ryukyu and Korea, the provinces' names in kaisho characters; marked on the base Tempo nensei (1830-1844). 32cm. wide.'

The piece fetched £280, against a pre-sale estimate of £250-£350: a useful yardstick for further browsing in antique markets and out-of-the-way shops with blue-and-white china in them.

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COPYRIGHT September 1982 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.

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References:

1. Laurence Smith. 'Japanese Porcelain in the First Half of the 19th Century,' Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, Vol. 39, London 1973.
2. Curtis A. Manchester, 'A Tokugawa Map of Japan on Porcelain,' Imago Mundi XVI, 1962.
3. T. Volker, 'A Map of Japan on a Hirado Plate,' Far Eastern Ceramic Bulletin, Vol. VIII, 1956.
4. Namba Matsutaro, Muroga N'obua and Unno Kazutaka, Old Maps in Japan, Osaka, 1969 (plates 11, 81, 72 and 83).
5. British Library, Chinese and Japanese Maps (catalogue of exhibition held in 1974; entries J26 and J27).
6. George Beans. A List of Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era, Jenkintown, 1951 (supplement C has seven illustrations of map dishes and map plates).
7. George Kish, 'A Map of the World on an Old Imari Plate,' Far Eastern Ceramic Bulletin, Vol, VI. 1954.

Takejiro Akioka, Nihon Chizuski [Maps of Japan], Tokyo, 1955 (plates 16 and 23, mirrors; plates 24, 25 and 55, various dishes: plate 13, a fan).