Skip to content
HDRH-VR-0022 2 1 / 5

Vintage Blue Lustreware 6″ Plate — Hand-Painted Japanese Scenic Landscape, Lakeside at Sunset

$22.00 Only one available

Price in USD. Shipping is $10.95 to the contiguous US — see our Shipping Policy.

Early 20th Century (c. 1900s–1940s) Porcelain / Ceramic Very Good
HDRH-VR-0022
A quiet little landscape you can hold in one hand. This 6" porcelain plate carries a hand-painted lakeside scene in the beloved Japanese scenic lustre tradition — a lone leaning tree on a spit of land, autumn foliage, wispy grasses, and a rose-pink sunset laid down in soft, watercolor-loose brushwork and mirrored in still water. A shimmering blue lustre border, iridescent as mother-of-pearl, rings the rim and catches the light as you turn it. Because each was painted by hand, no two are ever quite the same, and this one has a mood all its own.
  • Hand-painted Japanese scenic lustreware, roughly bread-and-butter / dessert size at 6" across
  • Iridescent blue lustre rim with a golden-hour lakeside landscape in the well
  • Red "Made in Japan" backstamp — a country mark that places it after 1921, most consistent with pre-war export lustreware of the 1920s–1940s
  • Displays beautifully on a plate stand, where the lustre does its best work
Condition: Good vintage condition. Glossy, well-preserved glaze with the lustre still shimmering, and no chips or cracks. A few faint dark flecks in the glaze and the gentle variation of hand brushwork are the ordinary fingerprints of an age-old hand-decorated piece — it presents beautifully.
Back to Home Decor
Share This Find
Honestly described
Carefully packed
Ships in 2–3 days
$10.95 shipping
Our terms

Vintage Blue Lustreware 6" Plate — Hand-Painted Japanese Scenic Landscape, Lakeside at Sunset

Likely 1920s–1940s (pre-war Japanese export)

Japanese Scenic Lustreware

This little plate came to us from a Youngsville, North Carolina estate that gave up a lovely group of Japanese pieces — porcelain chosen with care and kept for a lifetime. In the well, a lone tree leans over still water beneath a rose-pink sunset, the whole scene painted loose and watery in the beloved Japanese scenic-lustre tradition. A shimmering blue lustre border, iridescent as mother-of-pearl, rings the rim and shifts with the light.

The red "Made in Japan" ink stamp on the back is a country-of-origin mark rather than a maker's signature — it carries no named maker or pattern. Still, it helps place the age: the mark came into use after 1921, when the earlier "Nippon" marking was retired, and the loose brushwork and lustre glaze sit most comfortably in the pre-war Japanese export ware of roughly the 1920s through the 1940s. Every plate in this tradition was hand-painted, so this quiet lakeside exists exactly once.

Materials Porcelain with iridescent blue lustre glaze; hand-painted lakeside landscape in the well
Care Hand-wash gently in warm water with a soft cloth; avoid abrasives, soaking, and the dishwasher, which can dull the lustre glaze. Best enjoyed as a decorative display plate on a stand or shelf.
From the Research Archives
vintagerose.us Catalog No. HDRH-VR-0022 • July 2026

Specifications

Dimensions
8 × 8 × 3 in
Weight
2 lbs
SKU
HDRH-VR-0022
Some pieces ask you to slow down, and this is one of them. In the well of this little porcelain plate, a single tree leans out over still water from a small point of land — autumn in its leaves, wispy green grasses at its feet, and behind it a sky washed in soft rose and pink, the whole sunset caught again in the mirror of the lake. It's the Japanese scenic lustre tradition at its most tender: a tranquil lakeside at golden hour, painted loose and watery, more feeling than fine detail. Ringing it all is a border of blue lustre, iridescent as the inside of a shell, that shifts and shimmers every time the light moves across it. Small plates like this one traveled home by the trunkful with mid-century American collectors who'd fallen for Japanese porcelain — admired for the lustre glaze, the hand-brushed scenery, and the sheer affordable romance of the thing. This one turned up in a Youngsville, North Carolina estate that gave up a lovely group of Japanese pieces, the kind someone clearly chose with care and kept for a lifetime. It was never signed by a named maker; it didn't need to be. Every plate in this tradition was hand-painted, so the scene you're looking at exists exactly once, in exactly this way. The red "Made in Japan" ink stamp on the back is a country-of-origin mark rather than a maker's signature, and it does tell us something useful about the age: it places the plate after 1921, when the earlier "Nippon" marking was retired, and the style and stamp together sit most comfortably in the pre-war export lustreware of roughly the 1920s through the 1940s.
  • Type: Hand-painted Japanese scenic lustreware decorative plate
  • Material: Porcelain with an iridescent blue lustre glaze
  • Size: 6" in diameter — bread-and-butter / dessert scale
  • Motif: Lakeside landscape at sunset — leaning tree, autumn foliage, rose-pink sky mirrored in still water, wispy grasses in the foreground
  • Backstamp: Red "Made in Japan" country-of-origin mark (not a maker's mark); likely dates the piece after 1921, most consistent with the 1920s–1940s export era
  • Provenance: From a Youngsville, North Carolina estate with a lovely group of mid-century Japanese pieces
  • Display: Made for a plate stand or a shallow shelf where the lustre can catch the light
Condition: Good vintage condition. The glaze is glossy and well-preserved, the lustre still shimmers, and there are no chips or cracks. A few faint dark flecks are scattered in the glaze — the ordinary speckling of an age-old hand-decorated piece — and the brushwork carries the slight natural variation you'd expect from a hand, not a machine. It presents beautifully and displays wonderfully on a stand.

Related products