EDO PERIOD (1600-1868), FIRST HALF 18TH CENTURY

Usagi, rabbits, are important symbols in Japanese culture and are representative of the fourth year in the jūnishi zodiac calendar, the Year of the Rabbit. They appear often in Japanese decorative arts and embody longevity, a meaning also suggested in the present lot by the fungi growing on the rockwork bases, thought to be native to Mount Hōrai, the mystical land in Japanese mythology.
A similar pair were acquired by George IV for the Royal Pavilion at Brighton in 1818 and are recorded in the Lacquer Room at Buckingham Palace in 1911 as a part of Queen Mary’s display on top of a Chinese cabinet. The pair remain in the Royal Collection (see RCIN 100967). For another example of a single model, but plain and without the colorful patchwork decoration, see N. Hiroko, The Burghley Porcelains: An Exhibition from the Burghley House Collection and Based on the 1688 Inventory and 1690 Devonshire Schedule, Stamford, 1986, no. 361. For a pair of cockerels of similar date with similarly modeled bases, see O. Impey, Japanese export porcelain: Catalogue of the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Amsterdam, 2002, no. 310.