Tea Bowl with Pine Tree Design

Tea Bowl with Pine Tree Design
Now a tea bowl (for serving matcha), this piece was probably, given its shape and the nature of its foot, originally a bowl for serving food that later was used as a tea bowl. It may also have had a lid. After the bowl was carefully wheel thrown, white slip was applied to parts of the interior and exterior and a design of pine trees created in underglaze iron and cobalt. A thin line of black at the rim was created in underglaze iron, applied so that it dripped. The bowl was glaze fired after the application of a transparent glaze. The high fired body is visible in the unglazed area from where the sides meet the foot to the base. The Kenzan signature is written in underglaze iron within the foot. This bowl was formerly in the collection of the modern Nihonga artist Yasuda Yukihiko.