Tea Bowl thumbnail 1
Tea Bowl thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 143, The Timothy Sainsbury Gallery

Tea Bowl

1615-1637 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This bowl is one of a small number of surviving ceramics by Hon'ami Koetsu (1558-1637), a noted designer-connoisseur who played a prominent role in Kyoto artistic circles during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Koetsu's abilities extended to the making of Raku tea bowls, the art of which he learnt from Raku Donyu (1599-1656), the third generation head of the Raku family. This bowl is one of the most important pieces of Japanese ceramics in the V&A's collection. It is similar in shape and treatment, though somewhat smaller in size, to a tea bowl in the collection of the Goto Museum in Tokyo entitled 'Shichiri' (lit. 'Seven Leagues').


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hand-built Black Raku type high-fired earthenware with black glaze
Brief description
Tea bowl, Raku ware with black glaze, Kyoto, Japan, by Hon'ami Kôetsu (1558-1637), 1615-1637
Physical description
Tea bowl with slightly everted straight sides, flat base, low footring, all-over covering of black glaze partially scraped away on interior and exterior
Dimensions
  • Height: 8.5cm
  • Width: 12.7cm
  • Depth: 11.5cm
  • Foot diameter diameter: 5.0cm (Note: Foot is not even, varying from 4.8 to 5.2 cm in diameter)
Styles
Gallery label
Raku tea bowl Kyoto, by Hon’ami Kōetsu (1558-1637) High-fired earthenware with iron black glaze 1615-1637 V&A 247-1877 (December 2014)
Object history
Purchased from the Japanese Commissioners for the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, accessioned in 1877. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
Association
Summary
This bowl is one of a small number of surviving ceramics by Hon'ami Koetsu (1558-1637), a noted designer-connoisseur who played a prominent role in Kyoto artistic circles during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Koetsu's abilities extended to the making of Raku tea bowls, the art of which he learnt from Raku Donyu (1599-1656), the third generation head of the Raku family. This bowl is one of the most important pieces of Japanese ceramics in the V&A's collection. It is similar in shape and treatment, though somewhat smaller in size, to a tea bowl in the collection of the Goto Museum in Tokyo entitled 'Shichiri' (lit. 'Seven Leagues').
Bibliographic references
  • Augustus Wollaston Franks and M. Shioda, Japanese Pottery. [London]: Chapman & Hall Ltd., 1880. South Kensington Museum Art Handbooks; 18. Catalogue number 88
  • Baker, Malcolm, and Brenda Richardson (eds.), A Grand Design: The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V&A Publications, 1999.
Collection
Accession number
247-1877

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Record createdNovember 15, 2002
Record URL
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