 |
|
Home |
|
Japanese Iron Tea Pot Tetsubin in Rare Tanuki Form browse these categories for related items... All Items: Hidden:Viewable: Pre 1920: item # 815567 Please refer to our stock # 6A-425A9 when inquiring.
B & C Antiques P. O. Box 291 Derby, CT 06418 203-929-7312 Guest Book SOLD |
|
||||||||||||
|
This wonderfully whimsical cast iron tetsubin was cast in the form of a tanuki and represents the Japanese folk tale, “Bunbuku Chagama,” in which the animal transforms itself into a tea kettle. Early 20th century. Unsigned. The lid, also unsigned, and finial are crafted of bronze. The spout is wonderfully formed in the shape of the tanuki’s head with open mouth and pointed ears. Because both the tanuki and the tea kettle are notable for their pot-bellied middles, the body of the tetsubin is in the shape of the tanuki’s body. Its front and rear legs and paws are cast in high relief, as is its bushy tail. Two loose-ringed handles, just like those seen on iron chagama tea kettles, are found on either side of the body. This is a rare tetsubin form. Although the tanuki is a real animal that resembles both a badger and raccoon, it is the mythical and magical tanuki which plays such a prominent role in countless Japanese legends and tales. Such a tanuki possesses the mystical powers to transform itself into any living or inanimate shape, and this mischievous animal is deeply entrenched in Japanese minds. “Bunbuku Chagama” is an old Japanese folktale with numerous variations which gained popularity in Japan during the Edo period when tanuki were the subject of many folk stories and every family had an iron kettle kept hot above the family hearth. In one version of the tale, a tanuki is helped by a poor man who saved its life, so the tanuki turns into a chagama to help the old man make money. The woodsman sells the kettle to a priest, who in turn orders his assistants to clean it and use it to make tea. The tanuki-kettle was unhappy with temple life -- it was polished and used on the fire, which really hurt. So it returns to the woodsman, and thereafter makes money for the "woodsman turned traveling entertainer" by dancing as a kettle on a tightrope. In another version, a priest tries to catch a tanuki to eat for dinner, but the tanuki escapes by transforming itself into a tea kettle. The priest carries the kettle back to the temple, but when placed on the fire, the kettle sprouts arms, legs, a nose, and ears, and soon resumes its true tanuki shape. Artistic manifestation of this tale is seen on Japanese scroll paintings and on Japanese iron tea kettles like this one. CONDITION is excellent. There are two rough casting spots on the iron handle. DIMENSIONS: 6” (15.2 cm) diameter, 4 ¼” (10.8 cm) high to top of pot, 8” (20.3 cm) high to top of handle. |
|||||||||||||
|
