Tea bowl, Irabo type

Object Details

• Artist

  Kusube Yaichi (1897-1984)

• Description

  Tea bowl in the form of, and bearing the glaze associated with, the type of Korean tea bowl known in Japan as Irabo, made in Korea for the Japanese market in the early seventeenth century.

  Wheel-thrown, gently everted bowl form with concave well (chadomari) in bottom, resting on roughly carved foot; outside of bowl trimmed to above mid-point of body, bringing stones in clay body to the surface.

  Clay: dense, dark brown stoneware containing numerous small stone fragments; well vitrified, ringing.

  Glaze: Irabo-type glaze, ochre-brown where thin (with brown clay showing through), olive green and lustrous where thick, especially around inside and outside of rim.

  Decoration: none

  Mark: square seal "Ya" impressed on base inside footrim (glaze reserved).

• Marks

  Mark: square seal "Ya" impressed on base inside footrim (glaze reserved).

• Inscriptions

  The bowl is contained in a paulownia wood box inscribed and signed by the artist. The inscription on the front of the box lid reads: (upper right) Irabo/chawan [Irabo tea bowl]; (lower left) Yaichi saku [made by Yaichi] [square red seal: Natsuyama].

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Origin

  Kyoto, Kyoto prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Sanae and Douglas Reeves

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1960s, 1950s

• Name

  Kusube, Yaichi

• Place

  Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto prefecture

• Topic

  Tea, Art, Showa era (1926 - 1989), Stoneware, Japanese Art, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)