Important Cultural Property
Height 22.3cm, Bowl diameter 9.4cm, Body diameter 17.1cm, Bottom diameter 10.3cm
Nezu Museum
This is the smallest of Insei’s tea jars in existence.
Like the tea jar with Wakamatsu and distant mountains in overglaze enamels, this tea jar is shaped like a shoulder, but its shape is somewhat less uniform.
The white ground glaze, which extends from the mouth to the bottom of the jar, is softly fired, and the entire surface of the body is covered with a spring landscape of a pavilion, which looks as if it is reflected in the setting sun, and is commonly referred to as a “sansen-zu. It is the most picturesque of all Insei’s tea vases, and the brushwork is truly in the Kano style, which may have been the style of Tanyu’s painting. The front is painted in black on the upper and lower sides with a masterful brushwork, while the back is simply composed of mountains and haze, but the use of gold paint, light red, and blue is effective and makes up a full and rich picture.
Five finger marks remain where the glaze has run out around the hem, and the base is burnished red, with the large seal “Insei” stamped in the center of the left side of the flat base.
