An incredibly rare antique circa early 1900s copper rondeau pot with brass handles and tin lining, from the iconic Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan! The Imperial Hotel was opened in 1890 at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to properly welcome international royalty, heads of state, and global travelers, and to help bridge relations between Japan and the West. It remains one of Tokyo's most important hotels to this day.
There have been three imperial hotels in Tokyo, all built on the same site. The original was European in design and opened in 1890 but was destroyed by fire a couple decades letter. The most famous iteration is the second Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright starting in 1915 and officially opening on September 1, 1923. This hotel was the best-known of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings in Japan. The third modern high-rise version of the hotel opened in the 1960s and remains today. With no makers mark the age of this pot can't be narrowed down much more than early 1900s, given that the first iteration of the hotel largely lost money until the 1910s, and no expense was spared building the second version of the hotel, I believe this piece is from the second Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. The Modern/simplified alphabet was introduced after World War II, which dates this piece before the third iteration of the hotel.
Excellent antique condition, lots of small signs of age and use in the way of small bumps, marks and surface scratches, but no big dents or damage. Sits flat on our gas range, but might have slight movement on a perfectly flat cooking surface like glass. This piece has been professionally restored and retinned, and is ready for use! No maker's mark, stamped on the front with the Japanese kanji (older/traditional form, the symbols would differ slightly if stamped today in the updated alphabet) for Imperial Hotel.
This incredible pot measures approximately 12.25” wide excluding handles by 3.75” deep, 15.5” wide across the handles; with walls measuring 1.8-2mm!
The final four photos are ephemera I came across while researching this hotel; they provided for historical context only and also to help illustrate a match of the kanji characters on the front of the pot to the hotel itself, they are not included with your purchase of this piece.
