What form of Satsuma turns up most often?

Bowls, by a wide margin. They account for a third of titles, ahead of incense burners at around one in nine and tea wares at fewer than one in ten. After those come dishes, chargers and plaques, boxes and lidded jars, figures and okimono, and vases and jardinieres.

Why do dealers call it pottery, earthenware and porcelain?

The wording in titles simply isn't consistent. Satsuma is a crackle-glazed cream earthenware, but nine titles say pottery, others say earthenware, and a number say porcelain. The porcelain wording clusters on the smaller things, including two netsuke and several figurines.

How often does Satsuma come up for sale?

Twenty-nine dealers have listed Satsuma on Sellingantiques, and about sixteen pieces reach the market in a year. So it is a category met steadily rather than in bulk, with bowls forming the run and the unusual forms appearing singly.

What does Imperial Satsuma mean?

It is a dealer's grading term for densely gilded, finely painted export pieces, not a place or a factory. It appears on ten titles and sits mostly in the upper part of the range, on okimono, plaques, koro and vases.

Is Kyoto Satsuma different from Satsuma?

Kyoto, or Kyo-Satsuma, refers to Satsuma decorated in Kyoto workshops. The ware takes its name from Satsuma province in Kyushu, but much of the enamelled export style was painted elsewhere. Kyoto is the origin most often named in titles, and it appears far more in current stock than in the sold archive.

Which dates do listings give?

The dated field runs from 1850 to 1920. Where decades are given they cluster in the 1890s and 1900s, with the 1880s, 1910s and 1920s thinner. More listings carry no decade at all and are dated only "19th Century". A few are labelled Victorian or Edwardian instead.

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Antique Satsuma

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Satsuma is Japanese cream earthenware with a fine crackled glaze, painted in coloured enamels and gilding, most of it made for export and much of it signed on the base.