Total height 40.0 cm, height 11.1 cm (kyusu), diameter 14.0 cm (roiro), diameter 18.1 cm (hearth)
Aoki Kibe was an avid drinker of sencha (green tea) and eventually became a potter, producing his own favorite sencha utensils. Today, Kibe’s tea ceremony utensils are more highly valued than those imported from China. In illustrating these pieces of Mokume’s tea ceremony utensils, we have placed a kyusu (teapot) and a cool furnace together to evoke the atmosphere of sencha tea.
The kyusu is a representative example of the purple-inked toenail, with a dignified, dignified design that is typical of Kume’s work.
A small doll of a maiko dressed in Chinese clothes is attached to the window of the fireplace, and the window is decorated with plum blossoms and the inscription on the front reads “Smoke, Haze, and a prize”. The bottom is inscribed “Taiheiyo-duragawa Chiyounro Chuguri ‘Tada Touko Zukuri” and stamped “Awata” and “Mokume” on the back.
The seat is hexagonal in shape and is surrounded by a column with a swastika throughlay, and the bottom is decorated with animal feet on six sides. Seirai” and ‘Mokume’ seals are stamped on the underside. Of course, the cool furnace and the furnace seat were made as a single piece, and this is a unique and beautifully glazed rare vessel.
On the cover of the box for the cooler, the inscription “Tenpo Imjin Hatsuharu Hi, Oiwu Gahaku commissioned by Awata Ki ‘Yone Zukuri’” and on the box for the furnace, “Roza” is written only “Roza”. It is thought to have been especially prepared for Iwasaki Ogauame, who was a patron of Kiomai in Tempo 3.
