A porcelain nut bowl set hand painted with Geishas and landscape motif. The large footed bowl measures 6" across and 3" high. The smaller bowls measure 3" across and 1 1/2" high. The bottoms are marked "Hand Painted Nippon" and the overall condition is very good but with some light paint loss to the rim.
The McKinley Tariff Act was passed by the United States Congress and enacted in 1890. This law required that all manufactured goods imported to the United States be marked with the country of origin. As "Nippon" was the English word for Japan, goods made there for import into the United States was marked "Nippon" to comply with the law. This stood in effect until 1921 when it was ruled that the country of origin needed to be in English and thus from 1921 on, any Japanese porcelain exported to the United States was marked "Japan" instead of "Nippon."
