Manto ware chintz toast rack

This Manto ware toast rack, made in Japan, is decorated in the Chintz style.  This style pattern replicated chintz fabrics imported into Britain from India since the 17th century.  Early versions of chintz had a more open pattern, but in the 1920s a tighter pattern was developed which became very popular.  The Manto ware copies of English patterns were created in the 1920s and 30s.

The toast rack tilted.

The backstamp which says "Manto Ware Made in Japan"  It is very faint so I can't tell what the rest of the stamp represents.

A very good article by Susan Scott can be seen here.

When my next door neighbour, Glad, was selling her house she invited me in to choose whatever I liked from her crystal cabinet - and this little toast rack took my eye.

Marutomo Ware dish

This is fun!

This little dish is 16 x 11 cm.  It is Marutomo Ware, made in Japan.  I haven't found a website about this particular firm, but there are lots of items offered on eBay, and from the dates given there I think this would date from the 1930s.

This type of porcelain is referred to as Majolica, featuring bright, coloured glazes and modelled in relief.  Collecting Majolica pottery gives a description of how it was made, and this system is probably why the glaze crazes so readily.  This little dish is heavily crazed. When I took it out of the cupboard there was a lot of rusty deposits in the cracks - which is why we have to wash our china regularly in soapy water, I guess.  

Would it be a sweet dish?  It is about the size of a butter dish.

This little dish came out of my grandmother Annie Frost's crystal cabinet.  I've always thought of the bird being a rather Japanese-looking kookaburra - but perhaps it is a Japanese bird, I'm not sure.  I thought the tree on which is is perched had gumnuts on it, which is why I was thinking kookaburra.