The name of this type of Mino ware derives from the textured pattern rouletted onto the clear-glazed portion of its surface, which reminded Japanese of the small, lacquered-steel horizontal scales that were laced together to form a suit of armor. Wooden roulettes were rolled horizontally over the damp form to produce these textures on the lower body of this bottle. Gourd-shaped sake bottles as well as small cups with this distinctive “armor” texture have been excavated from the kiln sites in the former Hirano Village in Mino and from kilns within the former Seto Village in Seto. The “armor” format was one of numerous novelties developed at late Edo-period kilns competing for the popular market.

Double gourd sake bottles like this one are found in several important private and museum collections of Japanese folk ceramics. The Morse collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, includes three such pieces in graduated sizes (Morse 1901: nos. 4291-93), and there is one in the Japanese Collections at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. (See Figure 91 in “Seto and Mino Ceramics” by Louise Allison Cort.) A similar tokkuri is illustrated in Figure 61 in “Quiet Beauty” by Robert Moes which chronicles fifty centuries of Japanese folk ceramics from the world famous Montgomery Collection. The Montgomery Collection is widely considered to be the most important trove of Japanese folk art outside of Japan.

CONDITION is excellent, with no chips, cracks or restoration. There are some normal minor kiln flaws which are usually seen on old folk ceramics.

DIMENSIONS: 8 ¼” (21 cm) high, 4 ½” (11.5 cm) approximate diameter.