Height 30.6 cm, Body diameter 24.2 cm
Rockefeller Collection
This tea jar is of a similar form to the “Tea Jar with Pine Trees in Iroe, Wakamatsu and Faraway Mountains,” but with ridges on the shoulders, which could be described as a shoulder-jointed form. The mouth rim is rounded and twisted, with ears on all four sides of the shoulder, and white glaze is fully applied from the mouth to the hem of the body, but the glaze has broken in several places. The composition of seven birds playing in a flock on the body is in the style of the Sotatsu school, and the birds are painted in purple over a black ground, with silver in some areas. The birds are painted in purple over a black ground, and some silver is also used. Although the painting is of an austere color tone, there are few examples of this type of pictorial composition. The base of the bowl is covered with a guttural body, and the center of the flat base is stamped with the large seal of the Insei clan.
