Height 8.5 cm, mouth diameter 10.2 cm, base diameter 4.9 cm
Fukuoka City Museum of Art
This tea bowl is similar in appearance to the “Okuro” but somewhat different in workmanship. There is one other red tea bowl with the “Jirobo” inscription, but there are several Chojiro ware tea bowls with the same inscription in existence, and an old record suggests that there was one other “Okuro” bowl as well. It is a little thicker than other tea bowls, and the mouth is held slightly inward, with a high rise and a rounded waist, and a slightly high and clear base. The base of the bowl is also rather high and clear. The tatami mats on the base are flat and thin, but the inside of the bowl is deeply cut at an angle. The glaze over the entire body is a little darker, and the kiln has changed to an uneven brownish color. There are no clear marks. On the front of the black lacquered lid, Muneaki wrote “Jirobo Motohaku (flower seal)” and on the back of the lid, Saso wrote “Jirobo black tea bowl with Rikyu’s signature, by Soshitsu (flower seal), written by Sen Sodan with the same brush on the box front. Both are written in vermilion lacquer.
