Examples of Objects on Display

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  TEA BOWL (Yuteki Tenmoku)

  National Treasure

  Stoneware with "oil spots" and iridescent luster on tenmoku glaze
  Southern Song dynasty, 12th–13th century
  Jian ware
  Height: 7.5 cm, mouth diameter: 12.2 cm
  The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
  Gift of SUMITOMO Group (The ATAKA Collection)
  Photograph: NISHIKAWA Shigeru

  Yuteki Tenmoku or oil-spotted tenmoku tea bowls were fired at the Jian kilns in Fujian Province in the Song dynasty. The name originates in the oil-spot-like pattern appeared on the glaze surface. These silvery spots suffuse both the interior and exterior of the glaze surface, displaying a mystical, enigmatic beauty enhanced by the iridescent luster of blue and gold. It weighs 349 grams, which transmits a pleasant feeling of weight to the hand when held. This piece was formerly owned by Toyotomi Hidetsugu (1568-1595), the kanpaku or Imperial Regent, then passed down to the Nishi Honganji Temple, the Mitsui family of Kyoto and the Sakai family of Wakasa. It is a masterpiece among the extant Yuteki Tenmoku tea bowls.

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  TEA BOWL (Konoha Tenmoku)

  Important Cultural Property

  Stoneware with tenmoku glaze and mulberry leaf pattern
  Southern Song dynasty, 12th–13th century
  Jizhou ware
  Height: 5.3 cm, mouth diameter: 14.7 cm
  The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
  Gift of SUMITOMO Group (The ATAKA Collection)
  Photograph: NISHIKAWA Shigeru

  The characteristics of Jizhou tenmoku tea bowls include the relatively white, thinly potted clay body and the small and low foot. This rather flat bowl has straight walls opening wide toward the mouth. The silhouette of a leaf imprinted in the interior during firing gives the name Konoha (leaf) Tenmoku. A faint trace of a gilt decoration of a plum blossom can be observed in part of the interior. This work was formerly owned by the Maeda family of the Kaga Domain (present-day Ishikawa Prefecture) and had been handed down through many generations. This is a renowned masterpiece among the extant Konoha Tenmoku tea bowls.

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  JAR

  Stoneware with black glaze and white spots
  Tang dynasty, 8th–9th century
  Height: 26.0 cm, width: 17.0 cm
  The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
  Gift of SUMITOMO Group (The ATAKA Collection)
  Photograph: NISHIKAWA Shigeru

  Black-glazed ware of sufficient quality began to appear in the Eastern Han dynasty and had undergone various developments since then. During the mid- to late Tang dynasty, a new decorative technique began to develop in the northern region of China, which covers present-day Henan Province and its surrounding area. It was a technique in which an opaque, milky glaze (e.g. straw ash glaze) was applied over the black glaze. This work is covered with a black glaze on both the inside and outside of the body, onto which white mottles are applied dynamically. Part of these mottles have developed a bluish-white tinge similar to the so-called namako (“sea cucumber”-color) glaze.

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  EWER

  Stoneware with ribbed design in trailed white slip on black glaze ground
  Jin dynasty, 12th–13th century
  Cizhou-type ware
  Height: 20.2 cm, width: 14.5 cm
  The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
  Gift of SUMITOMO Group (The ATAKA Collection)
  Photograph: NISHIKAWA Shigeru

  This work has an elegant form which can find its prototype in metal ware. Delicate, thin white-slip trailed lines are drawn vertically from the shoulder toward the bottom with extreme care, suggesting the atmosphere of tension when producing each line. The glossy black glaze displays a brownish tinge. The spout has a little curve at the tip, adding a pleasant charm to this piece. A similar ewer in a smaller size was found among a tea set excavated from a Jin dynasty tomb in Shanxi Province, suggesting that such ewer was used during tea time.