I am offering a 6-inch plate from the Meiji era, Seto-yaki, made by Senpoen, a master craftsman, Shirozaemon Ito, featuring a design of Mount Fuji in blue and white (fuji-san). Shirozaemon Ito was active from the early Meiji period to the early Showa period, spanning two generations, as a sometsuke (blue and white) kiln in the Minami-Shintani district of Seto, present-day Kaminokiri-cho and Akiba-cho, primarily manufacturing porcelain tableware for domestic use. He used the mark Senpoen, and his works were highly regarded for their high quality. It was written that "Since its establishment, the products have been meticulously prepared, and they have always strived for the careful selection of materials and glazes, resulting in superior products that cannot be imitated by others," and "Everyone knows that Senpoen's Nara tea bowls and plates are exquisite and reliable." They were also highly praised, with comments such as "They worked hard to improve the quality of the clay and glaze, and also paid attention to design, so Senpoen was particularly well-known for its domestic products. The twisted plates with Shonzui patterns are examples of their fine quality." The most notable feature of Senpoen is the delicacy of its sometsuke. They were particular about hand-painted designs, and the patterns rarely featured the typical flower and bird motifs often seen in Seto sometsuke. Instead, they often depicted stylized patterns, using materials such as chrome oxide and seionshi in addition to blue underglaze. They also completely avoided techniques like copper plate transfer printing. This piece is truly a masterpiece among masterpieces, as it was used on the cover of the catalog shown in the last photo. Furthermore, the geometric patterns drawn on the rim of this work are all underglaze. Underglaze coloring is a difficult technique due to its relationship with the glaze, and the more colors used, the more challenging it becomes to achieve good color development. However, this piece displays excellent color development with masterful brushwork. Mount Fuji was a favorite motif of Shirozaemon Ito, and the depiction of its majestic appearance in the painting is truly as the words say, "a superior product that cannot be imitated." The Senpoen factory had connections with important figures in Japanese ceramics history, including Toshimo Kato, who later became a Living National Treasure, who worked as a painter, and Shinobu Komori, who used it as the factory for the Sancha kiln (tsubaki-gama) he founded in Seto. The Senpoen factory, managed by Shirozaemon for two generations, ceased operations when it was used as the factory for the aforementioned Sancha kiln in April 1928. However, records of activity remained, such as the application for a commercial law backstamp registration in 1935 and his appointment as a commissioner for the Pan-Pacific Exposition in 1936, but activities ceased in 1942. The level of sometsuke is exceptional. As a master craftsman of the Meiji era, his works are also displayed in the Seto-gura Museum in Seto City and the Yokoyama Museum of Art in Nagoya. There is a nyu (hairline crack), but it is not broken. Therefore, it is offered at a low price. Thank you for your interest.