Imari China

imari China ware and patterns

This is our Vintage and Antique Imari china collection. The term Imari is widely used to describe a style of decoration used by English Porcelain makers in the 19th and 20th Century using dark blue red and gold underglazes. True Imari china or Arita Ware was originally Japanese export china popular in the 17th and 18th Centuries, exported via the port of Imari by the Dutch East India company. Imari designs proved so popular the English factories could not resist copying the style, while the designs incorporated less Chinoise characterisation, the colour pallet remained vivid.

H Colclough, Sutherland and Royal Albert & Royal Vale designs of Imari dominated the UK domestic market by the late 19th Century, but many other factories produced similar or almost identical copies. These Imari patterns have now come to symbolise the late Victorian and Edwardian style of English antique china tea ware.