Robustly potted with sides rising from a short straight foot, finely decorated around the body with a wide band containing four floral medallions on a leafy scroll background below, the interior with four clusters of birds in a pond around a ruyi circle, enclosing two characters to the centre, covered all over with a rich greyish-green celadon glaze. Diameter 19.4 cm. Height 6.2 cm.
Crack, chips.
From the Collection of Johan Almqvist (1940-2024). Johan spent his early years in various countries and learned many languages thanks to his father, Karl Fredrik Almqvist (1906-1982), who was a Swedish diplomat. Johan had a passion for art and travel early on. In the early 1960s, as one of his first jobs as a free-lance journalist, he traveled to the Middle East where his interest in Persian ceramics and collecting started.
He then came to be based in Japan, still as a free-lance journalist for all the major Scandinavian Newspapers as well as Springer (Die Welt and Zeitung), Swedish Television, Svensk Radio and Radio Luxembourg. He covered a large part of Asia, including The Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam.
1974 he was hired by Beijer Invest to be based in Japan.