Boat-shaped Satsuma-kiriko bowl with indigo-blue overlay

Satsuma cut glass production was initiated in 1846 by Shimazu Narioki, the 27th daimyo of the Satsuma domain (now Kagoshima Prefecture). His heir, Nariakira, shifted production towards art glass. In the production of Satsuma cut glass, overlays of colored glass were applied to the transparent crystal, and then a variety of cuts were made in it. It is unparalleled in the wealth of variations produced.In this example, the boat-shaped bowl is adorned by the motif of a bat, wings outstretched, on the front and a tomoe or double comma-shaped motif on the back. The blue overlay has been entirely ground away on the wings of the bat, and the body of the bowl has been ground and polished into a convex lens shape, producing beautiful gradations of blue. In Chinese, the word for bat is a homonym for “good fortune,” bat motifs are thus used as auspicious symbols on handicraft objects. Some think that this bowl was a cup washer for rinsing glasses or saké cups; whatever its use, it doubtless was used on auspicious occasions.