Small square dish on square footring. Spreading sides, the corners slightly indented. Decorated in iron-red, aubergine, blue and black on the glaze with a bird on a spit of land by a pine tree. The sides with elongated angular panels on a ground of iron-red basketry pattern. On the outside of each of the four sides a double-gourd with a ribbon. On the bottom a square fuku (good luck) mark. A wide range of enamelled decorations was developed in the period 1640–1670, both for the Japanese domestic market and export. A specific group called Kutani had bold representations in saturated enamel colours. It was initially believed that this type was made in Kutani, but excavations have shown that it was manufactured at Arita. There was a revival of this style in the Meiji period (1868–1912) and porcelain decorated in the style of early Kutani was in great demand. That this is one of these later pieces is clear from the centre decoration where a spit of land has been placed in the empty space without context; the uninspired decorative style of, for example, the gourds; and the mark that was never used on early Kutani in this way.