Yamada family seal chops and signatures

[Bok]

While there aren’t too many examples floating around, it’s not too uncommon for his work to be engraved by Tozan - considering that he’s Jozan 1’s younger brother it makes sense he’d be available for inscription work.

Interesting!

I also really love the lid design on your teapot! The smooth circle top reminds me of some modern Korean ceramics.

It is almost certainly inspired by one kind of Julunzhu Yixing that has this design. I have seen it on more early Tokoname pieces from unmarked pots that were still in the 100% imitation of Chinese pieces period before they emancipated to a more distinctly Japanese style.

[Quentin]

It is almost certainly inspired by one kind of Julunzhu Yixing that has this design. I have seen it on more early Tokoname pieces from unmarked pots that were still in the 100% imitation of Chinese pieces period before they emancipated to a more distinctly Japanese style.

That makes a lot of sense! I’ve also often heard that Hamajiro and his father-in-law Yoshiwara Kasyu were especially proud of their Chinese style ceramics, so I’m sure that influence can be found in many of their more Japanese style pieces too.

[Tom]

Hello, what a great thread about the Yamada family.

I would like to contribute and share my Jozan Yamada teapot with you. Based on the seal and the overall style, it appears to be a Yamada Jozan I, although unfortunately I don’t have the tomobako.

I came across this thread while trying to identify the mark after finding this teapot offered in the classifieds for a small amount of money and described simply as a teapot. It looked promising, so before buying I asked about the seal in the Facebook Yixing Seal Group, where LaoSa identified it as a Yamada Jozan I teapot.
After that, I searched the internet for more information about the seal and the Yamada family, and this thread came up. And yeah, of course I ended up buying it and I thought it might be interesting and helpful for others if I posted some pictures here.

[Bok]

@Tom Nice pot.

It is possible that it is Jozan II, but in a conservative guesstimate, it could also be, and more likely so, Jozan II. I have seen this seal a lot on Jozan II pots, it has been used by both. Other seals, or even hand carved calligraphy on the bottom are more clearly attributed to him. There is a lot more around by him and also a lot more likely. In the absence of clearer evidence, I would attribute it to Jozan II.

What is the size of it? This would be one of the Chinese shape imitations that they did early on. Jozan I had a few very particular stylistic elements, but these are difficult to spot on a non regular shape like this.

Anyways nice pot!

[Tom]

@Bok

Thank you very much for your assessment. As I hear and see it is quite difficult to say with certainty whether a teapot should be attributed to Jozan I or Jozan II.
To my knowledge, Jozan I tended toward more classical, simple and functional teapots, whereas Jozan II incorporated more decorative elements, including engravings and calligraphic features and placed a stronger emphasis on precision, further refining the techniques developed by the first generation.
Considering these aspects, I would personally be inclined to attribute my teapot to Jozan I, as it shows a simple, classical and functional design and, while being very well made, it is not executed with absolute perfection.

However, these are only impressions and conclusions by an enthusiastic amateur after some research.

The size of the teapot ist about 6x6 cm with a capacity of ~ 100 ml.

[Bok]

As mostly, there are always a lot of uncertainties. I did personally see and handle quite a few Jozan II, all without decorations, so it is not bullet proof. The yellow cloth or box sometimes can clear things up. In terms of refinement, they all are pretty much the same from Jozan I - now. The family itself is veeeery reluctant to offer any clues as to provenance. Some tried, most got simply ghosted (in which the Japanese have always been experts, before that was a "thing").

Jozan I and II made smaller pots, to my knowledge III already all huge.