Your leopard is Japanese, and I believe mid-century is the correct period. The strongest reference I found documents very similar rising-sun Japanese pottery marks in the second half of the 1950s. Another major Japanese-marks reference says similar printed rising-sun marks occur on pieces dated as late as 1958. So I’d date yours approximately 1955–1960, rather than the 1970s.I cannot reliably identify the manufacturer from that stamp, though. That’s important because “Japan” or a rising-sun symbol doesn’t by itself identify a particular pottery. I found references associating some rising-sun marks with Noritake-related wares, but your mark isn’t close enough for me to call this Noritake.What it’s worthThere’s definitely a collector market for these mid-century Japanese ceramic big cats. Current examples vary quite a bit: a 12.5-inch 1950s Japanese ceramic jaguar is offered at about $112, while smaller or more common Japanese leopard/jaguar figures are generally offered considerably lower. From your photographs, yours is one of the more interesting ones—the reclining pose, curled tail, bright yellow glaze and hand-painted facial details give it considerably more personality than the little mass-produced examples.
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