CANDLE STAND
Blue-and-white porcelain with Fukurokuju (Happiness, Wealth and Longevity) designSecond half of the Edo period, 19th century
Tozan ware
Height: 48.5 cm
Gift of Mrs. TSUJII Yukiko and Mr. TSUJII Tadashi (Acc. No. 05441)
From the mid-Edo period (around the first half of the 18th century) onwards, when the production of candles increased, ceramic candle stands, from earthenware to porcelain, began to be produced. This work has an underglaze decoration of bats, deer and Chinese characters which can be read ju on the body, symbolizing fuku (happiness), roku (wealth) and ju (longevity) respectively. It is hollow from the body to the base and the inside of the base bears an inscription in underglaze blue, which ca be read Tozan, the name of the kiln at which this work was fired. Tozan kilns began to produce pottery in 1822 at the foot of Mt. Kozenji in Higashiyama, located in present-day Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture. The kiln was soon brought under the management of the Himeji Domain.