Tea Bowl with Pine Trees Design

  • 18-19c
Tea Bowl with Pine Trees Design

Tea Bowl with Pine Trees Design
This rather large bowl was probably, given the thickness of the clay body and the shape of the foot, a bowl for serving food later converted to use as a tea bowl. It may originally have had a lid. White slip was applied, except to the bottom and in the inside of the foot. On that ground, pine tree trunks and branches were painted in underglaze iron and pine needles in underglaze cobalt. The rim has been edged in underglaze iron, and the Kenzan signature is written, also in underglaze iron, inside the foot. The fine crackles that have developed in the slip and the transparent glaze combine with the stylized pine tree design to give this bowl a rather tender ambience.