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Japanese Glazed Stoneware Tea Ceremony Tile, Seto browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Japanese:Stoneware: Pre 1900: item # 510551 Please refer to our stock # 2B-793 when inquiring.
B & C Antiques P. O. Box 291 Derby, CT 06418 203-929-7312 Guest Book $495 |
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This wonderful early example of Japanese mingei folk ceramics is a thick “bedding tile” in rare snowflake form that was likely potted at the Seto kilns in the late Edo period, ca. 1800-1850. The glazed tile is boldly hand painted with a classic freestyle floral design in brown iron oxide and cobalt blue on a clear crazed ground. The bottom is unglazed except for the edges where the glaze from the front has overrun the sides. Such tiles were typically placed beneath the portable iron brazier (furo-gama) used in the tea ceremony during the warmer months of May through October. The style of decoration is very similar to that of a Seto “ishi-zara” (“stone plate” or “herring plate”), a thick-walled and sturdy shallow bowl with a horizontally everted rim. These were typically decorated in just two colors, iron-oxide brown and cobalt-oxide blue under a clear glaze on buff-colored clay, and the designs always possessed a spontaneous vitality.
Folk pottery consists of various kinds of domestic wares which possess a natural dignity that stems from the combination of the materials used to make and fire the pottery, the craftsman’s technical skill, and the use to which such pottery is put. Folk-craft products or “mingei,” of which this tile is representative, are objects used by common people. These commonplace, functional artifacts are endowed with a beauty directly connected with their utility – a beauty that is humble, unassuming and never pretentious. Condition: there are signs of considerable use and age, with wear spots on the glaze, small glaze losses at the rim and stains, and a possible restoration at one corner (see Enlargement Photo 5 for the corner). These blemishes are not uncommon on utilitarian mingei ceramics and, in fact, actually lend character to the piece without detracting from its value. Dimensions: 10” (25 cm) diameter, ¾” (2 cm) thick. |
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