Collection: Goto Museum of Art
Height: 8.6-8.8cm
Diameter: 13.3-14.0cm
Foot diameter: 5.6cm
Height: 1.7cm
The rim is curved, the foot ring is high, and it is a solid Kikumagawa-style Kikumagawa. The name “Chitose” was given in reference to the old poem “The bird that sings above the clouds is the king, and the thousand years of the sky are empty”.
The base is made from coarse, iron-poor clay, and a transparent white glaze is applied to the inside and outside. The glaze on the sides is applied in a style known as makugusuri, and the waist is not glazed, giving it the appearance of a sliding door. The foot ring is also mostly unglazed. The glaze is well-dissolved and shiny, and there are cracks all over the surface. The firing is slightly oxidized, and the surface of the vessel is an eggshell color, with a skin texture similar to that of an egg.
The shape of the vessel is a typical Kumagawa type, with a curved rim, a rounded waist, and a high foot, and there is a mirror-like dent in the inner surface, but Kumagawa valued small, tightly-made items. In this respect, Chitose is one of the smallest and most tightly-glazed Kumagawa tea bowls. In addition, the tea stains that have seeped unevenly into the body, waist and inner surface, turning a light purple as if from a slight leak, add to the charm of this tea bowl.
The inside of the bowl is bluish due to the thick glaze, and there are several sand grains baked into it. There are a couple of thin ridges around the rim, but they are not very noticeable. The bottom is rough, and there are fine wrinkles on it, with a thin glaze on top. There is a slight ridge in the center of the bottom, and a spot of glaze on the top of this ridge.
The Makumagawa name-brand bowls are relatively rare, but of these, this bowl is a representative masterpiece that is both beautiful and elegant, and has all the makings of a Makumagawa bowl.
The accompanying items are a paulownia wood inner box and a paulownia wood outer box. On the lid of the inner box is an inscription by Matsudaira Fumai, reading “Chitose”, and on the underside of the lid is an inscription reading “On the clouds, the nightingale sings, and the bird of the thousand years asks if the sky is empty”. The inscription on the lid of the outer box, “Chitose”, is also by Fumai.
It was passed down in the Kumagawa family of the Matsudaira clan of Unshu, and is recorded in the Unshu Zocho (Unshu Treasury Ledger).
