Pair Of Large 19th Century Imari Lamps

Exceptional pair of large Imari lamps in good condition. Electricity redone with a one meter fifty cord. The lampshades are in golden velvet in perfect condition. Each lamp is placed on a chiseled bronze base decorated with scrolls and friezes topped with a porcelain foot. Its meiping-shaped body with chiseled bronze handles on each side featuring flowers and scrolls. There is a small firing defect (black stain) on one of the lamps see the last photo. These lamps are very richly decorated and of very beautiful dimensions. 112 cm in height with lampshade, 75 cm without lampshade. 31 cm body at the widest point of the lamp and 20 cm in diameter at the foot. Imari porcelain is a style of ceramic born around 1600 in the region of Arita (有田町), a city of potters on the island of Kyūshū, in the South of Japan. According to tradition, it was a Korean named Ri Sampei, who settled in the region, who exploited a kaolin deposit located at the foot of Izumiyama Hill. He succeeded in melting the kaolin, around 1400 °C, to obtain porcelain similar to that of the Chinese, putting an end to a monopoly that had been in place for more than seven centuries. This porcelain is characterized by a decoration using three colors: cobalt blue, iron red, and the white background of the porcelain, the whole being enhanced with gold. It mainly features floral motifs and was called "Imari" from the name of the port on the island of Kyùshù, from where it was exported, a few kilometers from Arita. It was the supply difficulties in China (due to political unrest in the 17th century) that prompted Westerners to find other sources of production and this is how the Dutch, with their Eastern Company of the United Provinces, imported the first Imaris from Japan.