Accessories: Box (unfinished paulownia wood); Inscription by Itamiya Sōfu
Accompanying Letter: From Furuta Oribe to Ueda Chūsu (Sōko)
Dimensions
Height: 25.4 cm; Mouth Diameter: 15.1 cm; Body Diameter: 12.8–15.1 cm; Base Diameter: 11.0–13.0 cm; Weight: 2300 g
This flower vase, accompanied by the attached letter from Furuta Oribe, is known in the Kansai region as the “Oribe Namazume Vase.”
Specifically, Ueda Soko had long coveted this piece, which was originally a treasured possession of Oribe. After persistent entreaties, Oribe finally relented, saying, “I am parting with it as if tearing off my own fingernail,” and handed it over.
It was later passed down to Dōhaku and became the property of Itamiya Sōfu, a wealthy merchant of Sakai, in the ninth year of the Kan’ei era.
It is stocky and cannot be described as having a particularly elegant shape, but it stands on its own with remarkable beauty.
Its robust and defiant appearance seems to be very much to Oribe’s taste. This is indeed a quintessential example of a Momoyama-period flower vase associated with the Iga farming tool theory.
