Mystery Yunomi/Guinomi - Help!

Hi all.

It's been suggested to me that this is probably japanese. There is no discernable makers stamp but there is an incised mark to the base which I can't make out. Possible a kiln mark or shorthand makers mark. Shape and style are fiarly distinctive. Has anybody got any suggestion regarding region/origin/maker please?

Thanks

Gavin

There are things about it, such as the mark, that suggested that it is Japanese. However, the shape doesn't really look like any Japanese shaped cups that I have come across and the foot doesn't look Japanese either.

I know that doesn't tell you much, except that it suggests it might be difficult to get any further unless someone has something similar and knows the source.

The glaze decoration does looks very Japanese (often seen in Karatsu wares) and Naomi is correct about the current Japanese potters being less constricted by tradition. I am told by an American potter that I know that lives in Japan that she is quite shocked that there are many potters there copying Lucie Rie's work rather than their own tradition. However, that's another story.