Tea bowl
Artist
Otagaki Rengetsu
(Japanese, 1791–1875)
Dateca. 1865–70
MediumGlazed ceramic
Dimensions2 7/8 × 5 1/16 × 4 13/16 inches (7.3 × 12.9 × 12.2 cm)
PeriodEdo period (1600–1868)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineAcquired through the generosity of Ellen Avril
Terms
- Ceramics
- Glazed ceramic
- Poetry
- Poems
- Japanese
Object number2007.014.001
Label CopyOtagaki Rengetsu lived in Kyoto, a flourishing pottery-making center. She created her own hand-built vessels and decorated them with incised or inscribed calligraphy, often her waka poems. Typically Rengetsu relied on nearby potters to fire her pieces and sometimes, as with this bowl, she inscribed vessels made by other potters, such as Kuroda Koryo, with whom she often collaborated.
The inscription reads:
In the distant future I see the waxing of two leaves; foretelling happiness. Rengetsu
Collections
Kato Shirozaemon Kagemasa, also known as Toshiro
12th or 13th century
