Height: 7.6 cm, Mouth Diameter: 9.6 cm, Foot Diameter: 4.7 cm
Chokusui Art Museum
This tea bowl, featuring a design of shimenawa ropes and beads rendered in carved gold, was made for use during the New Year. It is a small, semi-cylindrical bowl with a compact foot and a narrow, tapered rim. The black glaze applied over the entire piece melts beautifully into a yuzu-skin texture. The Raku seal is stamped inside the foot ring, and three traces of the seal’s impression remain. The lid of the accompanying box bears the inscription “Shimenawa and Bead Design, Black Tea Bowl, Raku Kichizaemon Seal,” suggesting that this work was created between the ages of 18 and 26, when the artist went by the name Kichizaemon.
