Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan

Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan

Murase, Miyeko, ed., with contributions by Jun'ichi Takeuchi and Mutsuko Amemiya, João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, Joyce Denney, Hideaki Furukawa, Jun'ichi Hayashi, Yoshiaki Itō, Taishū Komatsu, Andrew L. Maske, Terry Satsuki Milhaupt, Tadayoshi Miyoshi, Miyeko Murase, Akira Nagoya, Katsushi Narusawa, Yasumasa Oka, Shunroku Okudaira, Susumu Shimasaki, Misato Shomura, Masako Watanabe, and Richard L. Wilson
2003
340 pages
230 illustrations
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The warrior-tea master Furuta Oribe (1543/44–1615) played a seminal role in establishing a unique set of aesthetics for the tea ceremony that had profound implications for Japanese art. Oribe's new concepts of tea led to the creation of ceramic wares bearing his name that possess originality and afford delight; these in turn helped bring forth a new canon of beauty for paintings, lacquerware, and textiles in the milieu of rapid social and political change that characterized the Momoyama period (1573–1615). Japan's first exposure to European culture also took place in this tumultuous time.

"Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan" is the first major exhibition examining the nature and extent of Oribe's influence ever to be held in the West. His life signified a turning point in the arts of Japan. This exhibition and its accompanying catalogue likewise mark a turning point in the study of Japanese art in the time of Oribe. They draw not only on decades of pioneering research but also on fortuitous discoveries that began in the mid-twentieth century: of kiln sites where ceramic wares reflecting the new aesthetic were produced; of consumer sites in Kyoto from which the wares were distributed; and of Oribe's Kyoto residence. These finds are particularly important because the extent of Oribe's impact on the ceramic ware that carries his name had been a subject of intense debate long before the modern era, with scholars reluctant to give the master credit in the absence of solid documentary evidence. Now, however, examination of the recently excavated ceramics and careful reexamination of old records of tea gatherings and of Oribe's own writings on tea utensils suggest that he was largely responsible for promoting the development of Oribe wares. These vessels, which are sometimes irregular or deformed in shape and are expansively and colorfully decorated with brushed designs, have a startlingly modern appearance. Bursting into the largely monochromatic world of Japanese ceramics that was the standard before Oribe, these strangely shaped and brilliantly colored wares must have made a striking impression on the sedate tea aficionados of the time.

The new aesthetic that Oribe promoted, as this exhibition demonstrates, was expressed not only in ceramics but in all the arts of the period; paintings, lacquerware, and textiles exhibit a similar explosion of energy and introduce a host of modern, even outlandish design ideas. No other period in Japanese history has witnessed such closely related achievements in different sphere of the arts.

Dish with Grasses, Stoneware with design incised through iron-rich clay slip (Mino ware, gray Shino type), Japan
Japan
late 16th–early 17th century
Clog-shaped tea bowl (kutsu-gata chawan) with plum blossoms and geometric patterns, Stoneware with iron-oxide decoration (Mino ware, Black Oribe type), Japan
Japan
early 17th century
Dish in the Shape of a Double Fan with Arched Handle, Stoneware with underglaze iron brown and copper-green glaze (Mino ware, Oribe type), Japan
Japan
late 16th–early 17th century
Dish in the Shape of an Arrow's Fletching, Stoneware with underglaze iron brown and copper-green glaze (Mino ware, Oribe type), Japan
Japan
early 17th century
Dish in the Shape of an Arrow's Fletching, Stoneware with underglaze iron brown and copper-green glaze (Mino ware, Oribe type), Japan
Japan
early 17th century
One from set of five squared food vessels (mukōzuke) for tea-gathering meal, Stoneware with iron-oxide and copper green overglaze decoration (Mino ware, Yashichida Oribe type), Japan
Japan
early 17th century
One from set of five squared food vessels (mukōzuke) for tea-gathering meal, Stoneware with iron-oxide and copper green overglaze decoration (Mino ware, Yashichida Oribe type), Japan
Japan
early 17th century
One from set of five squared food vessels (mukōzuke) for tea-gathering meal, Stoneware with iron-oxide and copper green overglaze decoration (Mino ware, Yashichida Oribe type), Japan
Japan
early 17th century
One from set of five squared food vessels (mukōzuke) for tea-gathering meal, Stoneware with iron-oxide and copper green overglaze decoration (Mino ware, Yashichida Oribe type), Japan
Japan
early 17th century
One from set of five squared food vessels (mukōzuke) for tea-gathering meal, Stoneware with iron-oxide and copper green overglaze decoration (Mino ware, Yashichida Oribe type), Japan
Japan
early 17th century
Sake Bottle (Tokkuri) with Decoration of Three-Leaf Arrowhead, Stoneware with underglaze iron, copper-green glaze, and incised decoration (Mino ware, Oribe type), Japan
Japan
early 17th century
Inkstone (Suzuri) with Gourd Vine, Stoneware with copper-green glaze and molded design (Mino ware, Oribe type), Japan
Japan
late 16th–early 17th century
Bowl with Reed Design, Glazed stoneware (Mino ware, Kasahara Oribe type), Japan
Japan
late 17th century
Japan
early 17th century
Bowl in the Shape of a Ladle, Shunzan  Japanese, Seto ware, Oribe Revival type; glazed stoneware, Japan
Shunzan
ca. 1770
Square Dish with Abstract Motifs, Shuntai  Japanese, Glazed stoneware (Seto ware, Oribe Revival type), Japan
Shuntai
19th century
Ewer in the Shape of a Bucket, Seto ware, Oribe Revival type; glazed stoneware, Japan
Japan
early 19th century
Water Jar in the Shape of a Well Bucket, Seto ware, Oribe Revival type; glazed stoneware, Japan
Japan
19th century
Tagasode (“Whose Sleeves?”), Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold, silver, and gold leaf on paper, Japan
Japan
first half of 17th century
Sake Ewer (Hisage) with Chrysanthemums and Paulownia Crests in Alternating Fields, Lacquered wood with gold hiramaki-e and e-nashiji (“pear-skin picture”) on black ground, Japan
Japan
early 17th century
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Murase, Miyeko, Mutsuko Amemiya, and Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), eds. 2003. Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan. New York : New Haven: Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Yale University Press.