Editing Imari ware (section)

==Characteristics==
Though there are many types of Imari ware, the type usually so called in the West is called ''kinrande'' in Japanese, and was produced for export in large quantities from the mid-17th century until the export trade tailed off around 1740. ''Kinrande'' has underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze red and gold, and sometimes other colors. The color combination was not seen in China at that time.  Traditional Ming dynasty color porcelain used dominantly red and green, probably due to scarcity of gold in China, whereas gold was abundant in Japan in those days.  

The subject matter of Arita is diverse, ranging from foliage and flowers to people, scenery and abstractions. Some designs such as [[Kraak porcelain]] were adopted from China, but most designs were uniquely Japanese owing to the rich Japanese tradition of paintings and costume design.  The porcelain has a gritty texture on the base, where it is not covered by glaze.  

=== Chinese Imari ===
[[File:Dresden Porcelain Collection - 07-1975.jpg|right|thumb|Chinese Imari porcelain vases of the [[Kangxi period]] (1662–1722), [[Qing dynasty]]]]
Though sophisticated wares in authentic Japanese styles were being made at Arita for the fastidious home market, European–style designations of [[Arita porcelain]] were formed after blue and white kraak porcelains, imitating Chinese underglaze "blue-and-white" wares, or made use of [[Vitreous enamel|enamel]] colors over [[underglaze]]s of [[cobalt blue]] and iron red.  The ware often used copious [[gilding]], sometimes with spare isolated sprigged [[vignette (graphic design)|vignette]]s, but often densely patterned in compartments. There were two quite different styles in these wares.<ref>Oliver Impey, "Japanese export art of the Edo Period and its influence on European art", ''Modern Asian Studies'' '''18'''.4, Special Issue: Edo Culture and Its Modern Legacy (1984, pp. 685–697) p. 695. "On the one hand a gaudy, brash brightly coloured and highly decorated style, the Imari style."</ref> Globular Imari [[teapot]]s with swan-necked spouts helped establish the classic European form for these new necessities of life.

Dutch traders had a monopoly on the insatiable export trade, the first large order being placed at Arita by the Dutch East India Company in 1656. The trade peaked in the late 17th century and was slowly replaced by Chinese kilns in the early 18th century; it ended in 1756, as social conditions in China settled with the full establishment of the Qing Dynasty. Imitating Arita designs, fine "Chinese Imari" export wares were produced in the 18th century, eclipsing the original Japanese exports.

=== European Imari ===
[[File:Kaiserliche Porzellanmanufaktur Wien 001.JPG|thumb|Porcelain bowl in the Imari style with garden scenes, chrysanthemums and peonies, painted, gold elevation. [[Viennese Porcelain Manufactory|Imperial Viennese Porcelain Manufactory]], 1744/49]]
European centers imitated the style of Imari wares, initially in [[faience]] at [[Delft]] in the Netherlands. Imari patterns, as well as "Kakiemon" designs and palette of colors, influenced some early [[Orient]]alizing wares produced by the porcelain manufactories at [[Meissen porcelain|Meissen]], [[Chantilly porcelain|Chantilly]], or later at [[Vincennes porcelain|Vincennes]] and in [[Viennese Porcelain Manufactory|Vienna]]. It was also produced in the early 19th century at Robert Chamberlain's [[Worcester porcelain]] factory at [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], as well as [[Royal Crown Derby|Crown Derby porcelain]], where Imari patterns remain popular to the present.