Nippon-Square with Milkmaid Milking Cow

Square porcelain hand painted Nippon inkwell. One side is painted with a cow and milkmaid milking; the other sides depict rural scenery. The lid lifts off. The insert is also porcelain with a rim that is painted in a color that matches the inkwell. The base is marked with the green wreath mark (M in the middle, Hand Painted above the wreath and Nippon below).

These square inkwells were painted with numerous different designs and patterns. Early inkwells such as these were painted individually by one artist.  Later, many of them were painted with more of an assembly line process; one person would paint an outline (or use a stencil), the next person might paint the background shades, another might paint details and so on. Thus, while you will see multiple inkwells with the same design, none of them will be exactly like another.

Nippon itself is not the name of a manufacturer. When the McKinley Tarrif Act was passed by congress in 1890, all imports were required to be marked by the country of origin. Nippon was allowed as the Japanese country mark on porcelain until 1921, when it was decided that Nippon was not an English word and could no longer be used. Thus we know that all Nippon marked porcelain items date from between 1890 and 1921.  The wreath mark was generally used between 1911 and 1921. The M stands for the importers, Morimura Bros.