Two Mustard Pots

Each pot is molded in the form of a bulging cylindrical wooden barrel with shallow indentations suggesting the characteristic planks and binding hoops of such containers. They have flat lids and a single branch-shaped loop handle extending with leaves in relief along the body of each vessel. The pair are decorated in black, blue, green, red, and yellow enamels on a white ground inspired by the palette and designs of Japanese Kakiemon ceramics. The tree-branch handles and leaves are naturalistically colored, the bodies are painted with a blue and a red quail flanked by different tufts of flowers, and the lids are decorated with a pair of blue-winged cranes facing each other in a marsh.