EDO PERIOD, 19TH CENTURYThe deep bowl raised on a tall foot, painted in underglaze blue and coloured enamels with two men chasing a gigantic rat on the inside, one hunter riding the rodent backwards and holding a knife whilst the other tries to cling onto its tail; the exterior with another man carrying a blade and running after two other giant rats, 13.5cm.Provenance: from the collection of the late Gas Kimishima, wood-fire potter and specialist in the ancient kilns of Japan, purchased in Japan and thence by descent. Gas established his studio in England and built his own anagama kiln in Tring, Hertfordshire.Cf. The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Complete Catalogue of Shibata Collection, no.3940, for another humorous bowl with the same foot shape and rim decoration, which the authors dated to c.1800-1840.