White Porcelain Soup Bowl with Plum Blossom Marks

This bowl is an example of the European style tableware used at the imperial court of the Korean Empire. The bowl is decorated with gold plum blossoms, the royal court of arms of the Korean Empire. The manufacturer’s name on the foot, “Japanese Porcelain Company, R.C. NORITAKE NIPPON TOKI KAISHA”and “RC NORITAKE” identify that this plate was made by a Japanese chinaware maker Noritake. As Noritake adopted various marks for the production date of his porcelain works, the mark in the above photo indicates that this bowl was made for the domestic use in Japan around 1907. “R.C.”is the abbreviation of “Royal Crockery”which implies the exquisite quality of the porcelain ware, and this bowl was likely to be custom-made by the order of the Korean Empire around 1907.