A Japanese Satsuma ware jar and cover,Meiji period (1868-1912), the compressed bulbous body rising from a circular foot, flanked with two shaped dragon handles to the shoulder, painted in enamels and gilt with birds in a bamboo grove in a shaped panel, the reverse with an eagle fighting with a pheasant among blossoming florets, surrounded by waves against a midnight-blue ground, the flat cover similarly decorated with a ball finial, signed Dai Nihon, Satsuma Kuni, Mizuyoshi sei to the base,13cm high (2)Gilt losses. Cover chipped to rim. A long hairline crack issuing from rim down the vase with a small chip to body.