item name: Toys From Japan: Meiji Wood Block Prints

item description: Rare set of wood block prints illustrating Omocha, toys, from the Meiji period. These toys were more than playthings for children. Many were derived from amulets with symbolic content rooted in Japanese folklore.in 1887 Shimizu Seifu (1851-1913) founded the "Hobbyhorse Club" dedicated to "the merry and nostalgic enjoyment of children's toys". Seifu, who was an artist, a wealthy trader and a student of Japanese folklore, assembled a large collection of children's toys and published a series of books cataloging his collection. The series, Unai no tomo (The Child's Friends), numbered ten volumes, six by Seifu and four by the painter Nishizawa Tekiho (1889 - 1965). The prints shown here are from the first edition of volume 6, printed in Kyoto in 1891. Presented in museum mats and ebonized ash frames with non-reflective conservation glass.

Dimensions: Overall Dimensions
13" H X 10" W
33cm H X 25.4cm W

Image Dimensions
8" H X 5.75" W
20.3cm H X 14.6cm W

price: $475

item name: 18th C. Catalan Ceramic Dish

item description: A Spanish tinglazed faience dish from Catalonia, made at the end of the 18th cerntury. The decoration has distant roots in Chinese kraak porcelain of the 17th century, but this dish has a very Occidental feel.

Dimensions: Overall Dimensions
8.5" Dia
21.6cm Dia

price: $800

item name: English Delft Plate With Chinese Garden

item description: English Delft Plate with Peony, Pine, Prunus and Hollow Rock probably Bristol, circa 1760. 9” in diameter the garden in the center of this dish is derived, like much English Delft, from Chinese porcelain prototypes. The peony, the large flower on the left, is a symbol of spring.

Dimensions: Overall Dimensions
9" W
22.9cm W

price: $1,100

item name: Rare 18th C. English Delft Tiles With Harbor Scenes (Sold Individually)

item description: Rare English Delft tile - one of a set of four - with powder blue ground and octagonal reserve framing a scene of sailing ships in front of a fortified harbor. The distinctive corner motif and the frame stle are found on tiles from Liverpool made 1700-1775 (see Michael Archer, Delftware: Tin-glazed Earthenware of the British Isles, page 457).

Dimensions: Each Tile
5" H X 5" W
12.7cm H X 12.7cm W

price: $200