Japanese Porcelain from the Frelinghuysen Collection

An exploration of the diversity of porcelain made in Japan for the domestic and export markets

Japanese Porcelain from the Frelinghuysen Collection features pieces of blue and white and polychrome porcelain made for both the domestic and export markets from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The collection is especially rich in material from the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a period that has received little scholarly attention to date. A particular focus are pieces decorated with Dutch figures and ships that were made for Japanese consumers curious about the only Europeans allowed into the country from 1641 to 1854. Through these objects, Ron Fuchs explores how Japan interacted with an increasingly interconnected and changing world and how people in Japan and around the globe used Japanese porcelain for dining and for decorating their homes.

This volume follows Becky MacGuire’s Four Centuries of Blue and White: The Frelinghuysen Collection of Chinese and Japanese Export Porcelain (2023) in highlighting part of this incomparable collection. The book opens with an essay on the Japanese porcelain industry followed by beautifully illustrated entries that explore the design, function, and cultural context of individual objects.