Antique from Japan?

[MustardTiger]

There is a story to this silver, but we are just not sure. I've searched everywhere and have found only a couple of similar items with the bamboo handles.

My wife says that the Emperor of Japan presented this silver to her grandfather after the war. Her grandfather was a Lt. Colonel in the US Army. She said it was presented inside a silver bowl (which she no longer possesses). There are five pieces to this tea set. They all have the same marking "STERLING" in all caps. What I've found online that looks very similar is a teapot stamped "Arthur & Bond" and one stamped "Benten." Ours has no other identifying marks.

Please help me identify what we have here.

[davidross]

Welcome to the Forum.

This style of teapot with bamboo-form handle and finial was quite popular from the late 19th century though the mid-20th century, and many makers in China and Japan, as well as their imitators in the US and elsewhere, produced them. Of course, it is quite plausible that the teaset was made in Japan in the immediate post-WWII years and that a maker's mark and any other marks indicating country of origin were left off deliberately so as not to offend the foreign (largely American) customers for Japanese wares, given the lingering animosities. (For instance, as is well known, during the years 1946-1952, nearly all Japanese export porcelain was marked "Made in Occupied Japan.') Without a maker's mark or original retailer's box, however, it is nearly impossible to determine exactly where and when the set was made.

That said, the likelihood that this set has any connection to Emperor Hirohito is at best remote. For one thing, while the teapot looks nice, the rather common "oriental" form and relatively simple finishing do not speak to the quality one would expect of an imperial gift. Furthermore, Japanese silver gifted by the imperial family would have been fully marked by one of the reputable makers favoured with imperial patronage, such as Hattori or Hirada Shigemitsu, and most likely would have borne the imperial chrysanthemum seal if manufactured on imperial order for the purpose of presentation.

The good news, I suppose, is that it should be fairly simple to ascertain whether your relative ever met Hirohito and received the teaset from him. Your relative's service history should be well documented and the time he spent in Japan should provide a fairly narrow timeframe. Hirohito's day-to-day activities were quite carefully recorded as well, so if your relative did indeed have an imperial audience, there will definitely be a record of it. This would be a more conclusive line of inquiry regarding provenance, as the teaset has very little to tell us on its own.

Good luck with further research and please post any further findings to the Forum.

DR

[MustardTiger]

Thank you very much for the reply. We actually know very little of my wife's grandfather's military service other than the fact that he was indeed in Yokohama. My deceased mother-in-law was born in Yokohama.

I said pretty much the same thing to my wife about trying to authenticate the story. We must first get her grandfather's DD214 (honorable discharge from US Armed Forces), then we should be able to determine if his and Hirohito's paths may have crossed. Certainly the piece would be much more valuable if Hirohito ever touched it. There is no way to verify for certain that it was a gift from the emperor without a photo documenting the transfer, but I feel we can at least get ourselves in the neighborhood by digging into some records.

Having seen some of the Japanese pieces, I agree ours appears somewhat pedestrian. However it is quite unique because I've found none that look exactly like it. I've seen two pictures that resemble this stuff so much that it would appear the same person made them. But those two and ours have three different marks on them.

It is a mystery that we will pursue. I've enjoyed reading this forum and will certainly keep you abreast of any findings.