Kakiemon elephants | |
---|---|
Material | porcelain |
Size | Height: 35.5 cm Width: 44 cm Length: 14.5 cm |
Created | 1660-1690 Edo period |
Place | Arita, Japan |
Present location | Room 92-94, British Museum, London |
Identification | 766883 |
Registration | 1980,0325.1-2 |
The Kakiemon elephants are a pair of 17th century Japanese porcelain figures of elephants in the British Museum. They were made by one of the Kakiemon potteries, which created the first enamelled porcelain in Japan,[1] and exported by the early Dutch East India Company. These figures are thought to have been made between 1660 and 1690 and are in the style known as Kakiemon. They were made near Arita, Saga on the Japanese island of Kyūshū at a time when elephants would not have been seen in Japan.[2]