Sumida Mugs and Pitcher

Q: My mother has a set of six large mugs and a pitcher. They have been in my father’s family for several generations. Each piece has a different animal attached to the side. This strange mark is on the bottom of each piece. We are wondering about the value and where these were made. Can you help us?

A: The pitcher and mugs are Sumida ware, a type of Japanese pottery that was made for export from about 1895 to 1941. Most pieces have a heavy orange-red, blue, brown, black, green, purple, or off-white glaze with raised three-dimensional figures as decorations. The unglazed part is painted red, green, black, or orange. It was made by several different potters, and some pieces are marked with the potter’s name. The mark is usually written in “Kanji,” Chinese characters that are used in Japan. The mark on your pieces is that of Ishiguro Koko, but it was used by three different workshops or different generations of the same family. Little information about Sumida is in books written in English. To learn more about Sumida, see “Sumida…According to Us” by Herbert Karp and Gardner Pond (2001, privately printed, PO Box 250709, Atlanta, GA 30325). Mugs sell for about $150 each; a pitcher could bring $500 to $1,000.