MORIAGE PORCELAIN DRAGON 21 PIECE TEA SET HANDCRAFTED--DRAGONWARE

Here you go:

"Dragonware is the term used to describe porcelain or pottery items with a raised decoration which depicts an oriental dragon. These items were produced in Japan from the end of the 1890’s until the mid 1950’s. Most Dragonware pieces are decorated with moriage, which is a type of slip clay that gives the piece a three dimensional appearance. Quality varies considerably for these sets, with the earlier examples generally being a better quality than the 1950’s examples.

Sets like yours generally sell for under $200.00 .

Lovejoy 

I will ask her and let you know, I do not seem to recall a mark only the ladies face.

 In 1891 the McKinley Tariff Act required that imported items be marked in English with the country of origin. So I wonder if our sets are pre 1891 ??

"These items were produced in Japan from the end of the 1800's until the mid 1900's. Over that time period, styles and materials changed dramatically."


Lithopnes or Lithophanes (both are actually acceptable) are pictures that are created with the thickness of the porcelain. The pictures show when the porcelain (almost always in the bottom of tea cups) is held up to light. Lithophanes went out of style because of their cost to produce sometime in the late 50's or early sixties and were for the most part discontinued.

Almost all Lithophane tea sets have lustrious inside finishes that are truly beautiful but that finish was created with lead and therefore you should not drink from them.

There are some rules that you can use to determine the quality of the lithophanes:

Quality Level 1:  Highest quality. Clear and detailed, with highlights such as lighting effects and subtle strands of hair. A real contrast between the light and dark areas.
Quality Level 2:  Good quality. Detail to face and hair, somewhat less defined than level 1 but still distinguishable. Less contrast between light and dark.
Quality Level 3:  Low quality. Can hardly tell there is a lithophane present.Minimal detail and almost no contrast between light and dark.
Quality Level 4: Poor quality. Obvious flaws in stamp. (bug eyes or gouging around the rim."

I also found a piece in the exact shape as ours with a different color made by Nippon. It was marked.....I will get back to you.

Lithophane

Porcelain with a face of an oriental woman seemingly impressed in the bottom of what appears to be only their cups. The picture impressed in the porcelain is a "Lithophanes".

It was made in Japan between the late 1930's and into the late 1950's/early 1960's, mostly for export. Many pieces dates to the "Occupied Japan" period (1945-52) and could thus be dated from their marks. Many are not marked at all or marked with no western characters, which could point at that those were made for the GI trade within Japan why the US Customs "country of origin" rules would not apply.

Most of this porcelain appears to have been made by the Kutani factory in Japan and thereafter being decorated at lesser decorating firms from the multitude of different marks they can be found with.

Hallo,

I would like you to kindly inform me on the price that could reach the Moriage porcelain dragon 21 piece tea set, wich i own. It is the same with the photos above.
The tea cups have the face of Lithophane at their bottom and there is a kind of signature under the plates. I searched the web and found that the mark is : Nichi Hon (Nippon)
The entire set is in excellent condition, having no chips, cracks or breaks.
Thank you

As can be seen from previous comments regarding Dragonware, this question has been asked and answered many times. All you need to know about dragonware can be found in the instappraisal search box located at the top of the page.

Lovejoy