Charger with Map of Japan

In the early 1800s in Japan, many restrictions on domestic travel were lifted, leading to a boom in tourism and an interest in scenic sites and geography. One artistic reflection of this was the rise in landscape prints like Katsushika Hokusai’s famous series Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji. This fascinating charger, or large decorative plate, demonstrates an interest in the geography of Japan and its surroundings among the Japanese elites who could afford such artwork.

The charger was made at an unidentified kiln in Arita on the island of Kyushu, where the techniques of porcelain production were introduced to Japan by Korean ceramicists. It was formed with a press mold, leaving low relief lines that indicate the borders of the domains of the period. The names of the domains, cities, and other decorative motifs were then added with cobalt oxide. The design is based on a traditional Japanese map type known as a Gyōki-zu 行基図. Some of the surrounding countries depicted are mythical, but in both its blue underglaze porcelain medium and map subject, this work makes a very clear connection to the development of global connections through trade and colonial/imperial spread in the early modern period.