A matched pair of hand potted and painted Japanese Imari bowls with delicate designs of cranes, water plants and insects. The painting is so delicate and exact. The intricacies are mind boggling.The porcelain bowls have been hand potted with lobed rims. The inside of the bowls are decorated with rotating panels that alternate with cranes in poses and brocade panels of pomegranate fruit and foliage. A pale cobalt blue has been used to outline the paintings which are done in red, green, and gold over glaze enamels. The rims are decorated with gold and a line of cobalt blue. The outside of the bowls are painted in a repeating pattern of an underglaze cobalt tori gate and over glaze enamel flowers and water. The glaze feels smooth, slick and looks shiny.You can see the pottera€?s wheel marks on the partially glazed bases. The bowls have a shallow foot with the foot ring being glazed. There is a central circular indent on the base which is glazed and decorated. Each bowl has a different base decoration. One is an upright chrysanthemum with a stem and the other has a mum flower with no stem.MEASUREMENTS 6 ??a€ (15.9 cm) diameter x 2 1/8a€ (5.4 cm) tall. Weighs 1 lb 6.1 oz (625 g)CONDITION There is a tiny rim chip on the bowl with the upright mum on the base. This bowl has a hairline crack from that chip. The other bowl has no chips, cracks, or breaks. There is slight gilding loss and a couple of small kiln flaws on both bowls. The bowls glitter like gold and the enamels look fresh and bright.Many hours were used to expertly decorate these bowls. They shine with the richness of gold.___________________Item ID: Por-1722