Incense (“ko”) played an important role in the tea ceremony, which provided a setting for the admiration of the utensils associated with it. Among the most charming of these were the kogo, small covered containers used to store aromatic wood chips which were burned at certain points during the formal tea ceremony. They were also sometimes set out as display objects within special waiting rooms where guests could relax before the ceremony began or during scheduled interludes. Exhibiting a great deal of imagination, careful observation of nature and a playful sense of humor, kogo naturally came to be enjoyed outside their role as objects to be used and admired in the tea ceremony. They were exchanged as gifts and treasured for their own sake, and their popularity gave rise to a seemingly endless variety of shapes and decorative styles.

The potters who made kogo took pride in creating highly original and often intricate forms. Many of the boxes have ornamental surface decorations, and others are treated as miniature sculptures. The production of kogo was at its peak during the first half of the 19th century. The most extensive collection of antique Japanese ceramic kogo – more than three thousand -- can be found in The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. (See “Japanese Incense Boxes Rediscovered: The Georges Clemenceau Kogo Collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.”)

Seaside landscape scenes cast in high relief decorate both the front and back sides, enhanced by raised silver inlays. All the inlays are done in the taka-zogan technique, the process of hammering the silver into grooves cut into the iron. On one side, two silver sea birds (“chidori” or plovers) skim over rough foaming waves, where inlaid silver spots sparkle as foam on the breaking crests. On the other side, a silver full moon rises above the waves, which are also dotted with sparkling silver bubbles of froth. Temples and lanterns cast in low relief appear on the distant shores. The ends of the removable bronze handle, which is also inlaid with two silver chidori, were forged into large curls that fit through the arched cast iron bodies of two kylin dragon-like creatures that form the unusual handle mounts. The inside of the bronze lid is unsigned, and the bronze finial is inlaid with silver.

Tetsubin were popular in Japan as everyday household utensils and for informal and semi-formal tea drinking. During the second half of the 19th century, tetsubin made especially as tea utensils came to be highly esteemed. They were often elaborately decorated with cast iron ornament or with inlays of copper, gold or silver. Fine ornamental tetsubin of this type were preferred by the upper classes for the sencha style tea ceremony. A common characteristic of these sencha kettles was that one side more heavily decorated than the other. In the sencha tea ceremony a tetsubin, held by the host in his right hand, is looked at by the guest with the spout pointing to the right. This is the side of the tetsubin which is usually more ornately decorated in order to enable the guest to admire the kettle’s “best” side.

The reverse is signed “Tai Min Seika Nen Sei” (Great Ming Chenghua Year Made) painted in underglaze blue within a blue ring on the glazed foot. This is an apocryphal six-character reign mark of Chenghua, a Chinese emperor in the Ming Dynasty who set very high porcelain standards. To the left of the reign mark is another blue mark with four characters which reads "Nabeshima Seizan.” Seizan was a Nabeshima kiln which produced studio pieces in elegant Nabeshima style during the Meiji period. The foot ring is unglazed, and there is one spur mark.

Nabeshima ware is considered to be the most Japanese of all the porcelains and the most technically perfect. It was made at Okawachi, north of Arita, and was named after the prince who founded the kilns at the end of the 17th century. The porcelain was of much higher quality than that made for export and was originally made as presentation ware for the local nobility. Production was limited, and less than perfect specimens were destroyed. Its elegance was considered to be the epitome of refinement, and production methods were kept a carefully guarded secret. From 1868 on, Nabeshima wares were produced for domestic use and Western export.

Ema are often seen in Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. The term “ema,” literally “picture-horse,” has its origin in the paintings of horses that were substituted for actual animals presented to Shinto shrines in ancient times. With the passing of centuries, the repertory of subjects for ema grew extensively. The frames of these paintings were also of wood and often had peaked outlines, imitating the roof lines of Shinto shrines. Ema were made by anonymous craftsmen and painted in a lively, spontaneous manner with bright pigments, and they exemplify the rich enduring traditions of folk art (“mingei”) in Japan. The preferred medium was carefully hewn wood planks finished with gesso, lacquer, or other materials impervious to water. Weathering often exposed some of the wood grain and faded the bright colors used by the ema painters. The result was a harmonious, tactile surface of great appeal.

Older ema like this one are relatively difficult to find today because not many have survived due to the manner in which they were displayed by the recipient shrines or temples. Usually installed high on an outside wall, above doors and windows but under the overhanging eaves of the roof, ema were tilted forward slightly to be seen from the floor below. Despite some protection afforded by the eaves, wind-driven rain gradually took its toll.