Height: 6.5cm
Diameter: 12.5-12.7cm
Height of foot ring: 4.1cm
Height of foot ring: 0.8cm
In the world of tea, the term “ko-akae” refers to the colored porcelain of Jingdezhen produced before the Jiajing era of the Ming dynasty, but not as far back as the Xianfeng era. There are many types, from common folkware with crude painting to rare high-quality pieces made at the imperial kilns, but the painting is always a rough sketch with a strong, quick brushstroke, using a uniform combination of rich red and green as the main colors, with yellow added. Most of the tea bowls are made from repurposed vessels, and even the iron bowl-shaped tea bowls called “Hachi no ko” are not strictly speaking tea bowls for drinking tea. Among these, the “Undo-te” or “Undo-dai” style belongs to a relatively early period and does not extend to the Shoutoku or Kaei periods.
This bowl is a gorgeous bowl formerly owned by the Osaka Konoike family, with a beautiful iron bowl shape, and a gorgeous design of cloud and flower patterns, with rich and vivid coloring inside and out, and is unmatched in this style. Due to the small amount of iron in the clay, the foot ring is a pale yellowish-brown, and the white porcelain skin is faintly tinged blue. The exterior body is decorated with a strong depiction of the main theme, the cloud hall. Amidst the billowing clouds, a part of the building rises high as promised, and the rest is filled with mountains and rivers in the distance, trees, strange rocks, and figures standing in the shadows among them, as well as a scattering of cross-shaped floral patterns, leaving almost no blank space. In addition, the rim is decorated with a seven-treasure border, and the hem is decorated with a series of lingzhi-shaped wish-fulfilling head motifs. Furthermore, on the inside of the cup, there is a mysterious-shaped cross motif in the center, and a three-part treasure-flower arabesque motif on the rim. All of the brushstrokes are bold and rich, and the overall effect is one of intense, vivid coloring. This is the charm of the old Akae Undo style.
Accessories: inner box made of paulownia wood. The inscription on the lid is by Manpo Osho, and it says “Akae Hachiko Unyadai” on the front and “Ren’o (signature)” on the back.
Transmitted from generation to generation. Formerly owned by Sakai Tadakatsu (pen name: Kuuin). Later passed to Nakamura Uchikura in Ginza, Edo, and in 1714, when the utensils were being sold off at the Ginza Yoriyoshi Four Elders’ Meeting, they were purchased by a Kyoto utensil dealer, Karamono-ya Shichibei, for 4 kan and 58 monme, as recorded in the book Kokon Chawa. It was then acquired by Ueda Sogo of the Edo Fuyuki family, and later became part of the collection of the Osaka Konoike family. It is currently in the collection of a certain person in Osaka. In addition, in the “Chuko Meibutsu Ki” (Famous Tea Bowl of the Second Generation) in the collection of Mr. Oda Eisaku of Osaka,
- Akae bowl of a child, Ueda Sogo
Sakai Kuin in possession, Togumo yatai, dolls, etc. Enwagaika Akae
can be seen.
(Ryoichi Fujioka)
