An exceptional Japanese documentary and dated Satsuma earthenware circular dish, Meiji period, finely painted by Sozan for the Kinkozan workshop, with two bijin in conversation beneath a pine tree, with a young girl at their side, before a riverside scene, the far shore with children at play and flying a kite, Mount Fuji just visible on the horizon, all framed by a repeated ho-o lozenge brocade rim, the scene bearing gilt artist's signature and red seal, the reverse bearing a dedication 'With Compliments to Mr & Mrs T.O. Rust from S. Kinkozan', above a gilt and iron red signature seal for Kinkozan and dated in gilt '1909', diameter 40.6cm. Note: Sozan was the principal painter at the Kinkozan workshop and widely regarded as Kinkozan's finest artist. The exquisite decoration to this dish displays the two conversing bijin engaging in a game of hanetsuki (a traditional Japanese New Year's game similar to badminton without a net), each holding a wooden paddle called a hagoita, finely painted with a portrait, while the young girl at their side appears to retrieve the ball or shuttle. Footnote: for an example of Sozan's fine work see pages 192 to 196 of Louis Lawrence's 'Satsuma', 1991, for illustrations of a box and cover in the form a miniature robe chest which was donated to the Victorian & Albert Museum in 1910. The box is magnificently painted with scenes of wildlife and the cover is similarly signed within the scene with Sozan signature and a red seal.