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Tea bowl

Tea bowl

  • Place of origin:

    Kyoto, Japan (made)

  • Date:

    1610-1637 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Hon'ami, Koetsu (attributed to, maker)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Hand-built Black Raku type high-fired earthenware with black glaze

  • Museum number:

    247-1877

  • Gallery location:

    Making Ceramics, room 143, case 20, shelf 1

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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').

Physical description

Tea bowl with squarish base, slightly everted straight sides, low footring, all-over covering of black glaze partially scraped away on interior and exterior

Place of Origin

Kyoto, Japan (made)

Date

1610-1637 (made)

Artist/maker

Hon'ami, Koetsu (attributed to, maker)

Materials and Techniques

Hand-built Black Raku type high-fired earthenware with black glaze

Dimensions

Height: 8.5 cm, Width: 12.7 cm, Depth: 11.5 cm

Object history note

Exhibited at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition

Descriptive line

Tea bowl, Raku ware with black glaze, Kyoto, Japan, by Hon'ami Kôetsu (1558-1637), 1615-1637

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Baker, Malcolm and Richardson, Brenda, eds. A Grand Design : The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1997. 431 p., ill. ISBN 1851773088.
This bowl is one of a small number of surviving ceramics by Hon'ami Kôetsu, a noted designer-connoisseur who played a prominent role in Kyoto artistic circles during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He used techniques pioneered in Kyoto by the Raku family during the 1580s. The process of making black Raku ware involves pinch-formed shapes and the removal of the ware from the kiln at peak temperature. This rare piece was among the Japanese ceramics shown at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 (see cat. 114).

ANNA JACKSON/ RUPERT FAULKNER

Exhibition History

A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 12/10/1999-16/01/2000)

Materials

Earthenware

Techniques

Raku

Categories

Ceramics; Tea, Coffee & Chocolate wares; Earthenware; Stoneware

Collection code

EAS

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Qr_O70270
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