Bronze Vase

Can you help identify this bronze vase? A friend gave the vase to me for helping to price items at their garage sale. At the time I said, "Are you sure you want to give this to me?" and they said, "Yes". All they knew about the vase was that their relative had collected Asian art. I thought the vase was beautiful but quickly set it aside and got to work on the garage sale. Later I discovered the vase was a real treasure.


When I first looked on the bottom of the vase I thought the mark was paper. Later when I examined the vase I saw it was a chop mark impressed into the metal. The vase is quite heavy about 20 pounds and measures 9.5 inches tall and 12 inches wide at the widest part and the top opening is 5.75 inches. The four handles flow subtly into the side of the vase.

I originally assumed the characters on the bottom of the vase were Chinese, later I was told the characters are Japanese. Someone from the Asian Art Forum translated the chop mark to the words below, but they were hoping someone who knows the Japanese language could make a better translation. They also felt the vase was made in the late 19th or early 20th century.



I believe the chop is eight Japanese characters impressed into the bottom, although the translation I was given only has six words. Do you know more about the chop or characters?

TO - ISLAND
TEI - ESTABLISHED, SETTLED
DO - COPPER
KO - FRAGRANCE, INCENSE
KAISHA - COMPANY, CORPORATION
SEIZO - MANUFACTURE


If you can help me in any way with more information about the vase I would appreciate it. The first photo is more true to the color of the vase, I lightened all of the other photos to show more detail.


I forgot to pack a couple of items, one made of cast iron I need help identifying and also a grouping of tiles, so I'll be posting about those coming up real soon. We have one and one half days left in our home and then no telling what the future holds for us, so stay tuned for some traveling adventures sure to come.

How Do You ?

I am curious, how do you sign your pottery? Above is a ceramic disc with my initials impressed with a stamp and my signature. See how clear the stamp is compared to my signature. But the stamp is, well, so plain looking and not very artistic. I scribed my signature with the back of a needle too, but it doesn't show up very well. For some pieces, I'll continue to use my signature, but sometimes the piece is so small I can't fit my signature on it. Stamps are quick and easy to use, they make a clean impression in the clay, and are much more visible and clean looking on the ceramic piece than my hand drawn signature tends to be.

Do you use a mark on your pottery? The stamp shown above with my initials is an inexpensive rubber stamp I had made and I use it without ink. I'd like to settle on a bit more stylized mark and either carve it in clay or have one made up, perhaps with a square border or circle around it. I'd like to stick with one type of mark or signature for all the ceramic pieces I make. Do you stamp some of your pottery pieces and sign other pieces?


We're all pretty familiar with famous ceramic marks or artist signatures, such as those of Newcomb pottery above. Signatures or marks are a way of identifying the maker of the pottery when the ceramic pieces has left the artist's hands or studio. Here's a signature of Louis Comfort Tiffany.


I thought deciding on a mark for my pottery was going to be so simple and the more I try to make something up, the more ideas I come up with. I need help narrowing down the choices. So I thought I would see how you sign your pieces, thinking this might help me make a decision. Looks like the star symbol was used with Meissen pottery throughout history.


Look at these Japanese marks, they are art in themselves.


Below are some ideas I've come up with, please let me know what you think. Since my name is Linda Starr, I thought I would use the L and the S or a star symbol. Do you think using the star symbol is too hokey? Please keep in mind I quickly made the examples below out of block letters, but they can be changed into more stylistic or script style letters or hand drawings. For now I've left off a border around the examples.


Example 10 is left blank on purpose, because that's going to be what I decide - that is - if I can ever decide. Perhaps if I learn how you sign your pottery, I'll be able to make a decision.

Do you hand sign each piece of your pottery? Do you vary the way you sign your pieces? Do you change from year to year? Do you put a date on your pieces? I'd love to hear your thoughts. How do you sign or mark your pottery? As always, thank you for your comments.