When we lived in Okinawa, my parents must have enjoyed the culture. Mom bought some beautiful housewares while there, which came with us to the States. One of the most precious to me is a coffee, tea and sake set that I can only guess is Japanese. It looks ancient to me, although I’m not sure how ancient it really is. Mom had it stored in some kitchen cabinets back home. I made sure to confiscate it and send it back home to Arizona before our old house sold. I’ve done research online to try and figure out if it has a pattern name, but to no avail. The set includes a teapot and several teacups, a sake set, including tiny little sake cups, a large punch bowl, a pitcher, coffee pot and coffee cups, a sugar jar and creamer, and candlestick holders. The porcelain is very thick and heavy, not thin like china. It’s almost an antiquish pale blue-green in color with soft charcoal colored bottoms and crackled appearance both on the outside and inside. There are also heart shaped inlays cut into each piece. I can’t imagine how they did that, and each piece has gold trimmings and a gold horse and/or butterfly on the outside and bottom inside. I think it’s absolutely beautiful and am so glad to have it in my possession.
This is pretty much the whole set, with the exception of a few other cups.
This is my favorite piece. I love the bamboo handle.
This is the very large punch bowl. Each piece in the set has the same gold horse adorned on the outside.
The bottom inside of the punch bowl has two horses
In addition to the gold horse, both the teapot and coffee pot have what looks like a butterfly sitting on a branch on the other side. I’m not sure if it’s a butterfly, but it kind of looks like it.
This is the inside of one of the small coffee cups.
This is the sake set. The little sake cups look much larger here than they really are.
Sugar Jar and Creamer
I have the set displayed in some of our kitchen cabinets with glass panels. However, the cabinets just don’t do it justice. One day, it would be nice to display it in a china cabinet, or something similar. Wish I knew where my mom bought the set and if there’s any background or significance to the horse and butterfly.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sign it up for antiques roadshow! I love mysteries like this. Your blog is wonderful- the last one really got me….Keep on posting!
Thanks, Kelley! I thought about getting the set appraised, but maybe the antiques roadshow would be the way to go!
Hi, my name is Erica. I know this is a bit random but I was doing a Google search on a tea set that was given to me by my grandmother that had been given to her by her mother. It’s the same set as yours! I don’t have the complete set, just the tea service. My nana didn’t know anything about the set other than that she believed it was from Japan. If I am able to figure anything out about its origin I would be happy to let you know! It really is a small world!
Erica, thanks so much for leaving a comment! What a small world indeed! What are the chances of finding someone else with the same exact tea set? Please do let me know if you find out any information. It would be really cool to know if there is some history behind the set! Take care!
Hi I have been looking for an answer for my tea set I was gifted 5 years ago by my husband… It’s like yours only minus the punch bowl, sake bottles, and cadle holders, I was told it was from WWII…or right before….have you found any more info? If u send me your email adress I can send pics
Just found more info……the set is called Somayaki Soma ware…its from the late 1940′s after WW2 and most sets are hard to find and you have the largest set I have seen but when looking for info I found I can buy the missing pieces like dinner plates and those gorgeous sake bottles u have but no one has the punch bowl…..go nanna
Emily, I’ll send you my email address: mjnguyen7@cox.net. Hope you get it.
Thanks so much for passing along the information you found on the tea set! How did you come across it? Would love to order missing pieces as well. Could you send me the link or info??? Thank you so much, Emily for sharing!
Emily, I found a link on the Somayaki soma ware, and you can order more pieces. Amazing! How did you find out the name of ceramic pottery?