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備前肩衝茶入
Title:Tea Caddy (Chaire)
Period:Momoyama period (1573–1615)
Date:late 16th century
Culture:Japan
Medium:Stoneware with natural ash glaze (Bizen ware)
Dimensions:H. 3 in. (7.6 cm)
Classification:Ceramics
Credit Line:Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Accession Number:2015.300.261a, b
Like many other Japanese potteries that trace their history back to the Kofun period (3rd–6th century), the kilns at Bizen (Okayama Prefecture) began producing Sueki (cat. no. 4) during the sixth century. Bizen potters were quick to familiarize themselves with the latest trends, for their kilns were situated near the Inland Sea—at the time a major route to the cultural centers of the Kyoto-Nara region and southern Japan, enabling access to Korea and China as well. In certain respects, however, they remained conservative. They never adopted the practice of controlled glazing, steadfastly retaining the old tradition of using only the haphazard natural-ash glazes. Nor did they decorate their wares. One reason for this may be that some of the territories in which their kilns were built belonged to shoguns or members of the shogunal clan during the Muromachi period.[1] Nevertheless, their wares often display rich surface textures and hues, created by the natural ash. This substance, which is rich in organic materials, reacted in various ways with the clay to produce stunningly bright shades of red or reddish orange.
The large storage jars made in the Bizen kilns were frequently inscribed—sometimes with the phrase "on special order" and often with dates, the earliest known of which corresponds to 1342. Such vessels, used as containers for tea leaves en route to foreign ports, may have caught the attention of the tea masters. The first reference to a Bizen piece used in chanoyu is in the records of the merchant and tea aficionado Tsuda Sōkyū (d. 1591) and dates to 1549.[2] By the second half of the sixteenth century, the rustic simplicity of Bizen's unglazed wares was widely admired by connoisseurs. Their tea utensils rivaled even the most prized ceramics of the Mino potters as expressions of the wabicha aesthetic: beauty in simplicity, austerity, and imperfection.
This small, bulbous chaire, or tea caddy, has a straight shoulder and a short neck that terminates in a rounded rim. The vessel narrows toward the foot, in a subtle, graceful curve. The incised ring that circles the body derives from those seen on Chinese bottles. The smooth, buff-colored body of this perfectly produced wheel-thrown vessel was almost brutally scorched in the kiln, and one side glistens in a brilliant red. On the opposite side, a single red stripe runs from shoulder to base in a diagonal curve. Such scorch marks, known as hidasuki (fire girdles), must have first occurred accidentally, when the rice straw placed between the closely packed pieces in the kiln caught fire. The marks left by the burned straw were found to be aesthetically pleasing, and what had begun as an attempt to save kiln space resulted in the careful cultivation of the patterns.
This chaire has two silk-brocade bags with drawstrings provided by a previous owner, a mark of special affection and respect; one would be chosen as the more appropriate for display at each tea gathering.
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[1] Yabe Yoshiaki 1990, p. 40. [2] Ten'nōjiya kaiki (Record of Tea by Ten'nōjiya), in the entry for the ninth day, ninth month, ninth year of the Tensho era (1581); see Sadō koten zenshū 1967, vol. 8.
Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)
Tokyo National Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," May 21, 1985–June 30, 1985.
Nagoya City Art Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," August 17, 1985–September 23, 1985.
Atami. MOA Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," September 29, 1985–October 27, 1985.
Hamamatsu City Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," November 12, 1985–December 1, 1985.
New York. Asia Society. "Art of Japan: Selections from the Burke Collection, pts. I and II," October 2, 1986–February 22, 1987.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Bright Color, Bold Ink: Diversity in Momoyama Art," February 23, 1988–April 4, 1988.
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. "Die Kunst des Alten Japan: Meisterwerke aus der Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," September 16, 1990–November 18, 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japan: A History of Style," March 8, 2021–April 24, 2022.
Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia W. Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Ake Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 2, Japanese Objects, Korean Art, Chinese Art. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 30, cat. no. 588.
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