Height 9.8 cm, mouth diameter 8.2-9.1 cm, base diameter 5.0 cm
On the front of the lid of the mulberry inner box, there is a gold-painted inscription “Snowflake” in the Koetsu style, which has been referred to as a Kyobako (joint box) since ancient times, but it is not clear. According to legend, the box belonged to Harima Fujii, a member of the Konoe family who was Koetsu’s son-in-law, and later became part of the Mitsui family’s collection in Kyoto. After World War II, it passed through the Hayashiya Hayashikanean and is now owned by the current owner.
It is a small tea bowl with a taste of sake-tea, with the waist tightly pushed in, the base is low, and it stands up straight and open from the waist to the mouth. The mouth is thick and thin, and the rim of the mouth is undulating, and the spatula is flatly removed. The base is an irregularly shaped oval, and is slightly offset from the rest of the body, with a deep cutout within the base. There are many vertical spatula marks from the mouth to the body, and unlike other Koetsu teacups, this one has a somewhat casual and rough chiseled look, similar to the style of his grandson’s work. The glaze has melted well, and it is a red tea bowl with a yellowish ebony color, and there are some fire changes from the mouth to the body. The inscription of “snowflake” is due to the white flying glaze in the red glaze, which gives the teacup a stylish atmosphere. The mouth and body of the bowl have longitudinal and transverse kiln defects.
