Tea Bowl (Cha-wan)
makerStyle of
Ogata Kenzan
(Kyoto, 1663 - 1743, Kyoto)
Date19th century
Place MadeJapan, East Asia
MediumCeramic with cobalt and iron pigments under clear glaze; broken and repaired with gold-sprinkled lacquer
Dimensions6.4 x 12.8 cm (2 1/2 x 5 1/16 in.)
ClassificationsVessels
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberCR34n7
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryAlthough the box inscription and the signature on the base of the bowl itself represent the bowl as the work of the famed Kyoto ceramic artist Kenzan, it is no understood to be a later work in the pervasive and enduring Kenzan style. The bowl had been broken in Japan and repaired with gold-sprinkled lacquer. The motif of cormorant fishing suits this bowl to use in the summer months when cormorant fishing takes place on Japanese rivers, but in modern usage it would be classified not as a "summer tea bowl" but as a bowl for preparation of "thin tea" (usucha). It may have been made originally as part of a set of lidded bowls for serving food.
Source: Louise Allison Cort, "Mrs. Gardner's 'Set of Tea-Things,'" in in Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia, edited by Alan Chong and Noriko Murai (Boston: ISGM and Gutenberg Periscope, 2009): 395.
Id728529
Last Updated8/9/24
Original NumberNo. 9
EmbARK ObjectID15688
Previous NumberC26-7
Source ID4228
Object/Provenance
Parent Object/Child Object
