A Red Raku Tea Bowl with Poetic Name by Sasaki Shoraku
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Directory: Artists: Ceramics: Pottery: Bowls: Contemporary: Item # 1480957
Directory: Artists: Ceramics: Pottery: Bowls: Contemporary: Item # 1480957
Please refer to our stock # TRC230308 when inquiring.
Sold, Thank You!
Sold, Thank You!
Here we have an exceptional Raku tea bowl given the poetic name "Setsu-gekka" (snow, moon, flower) — a phrase often used in Japanese art and literature to evoke a sense of beauty, tranquility, and the passing of seasons. With a masterfully applied red Raku glaze and a noticeable aesthetic of asymmetrical balance, this piece highlights a very old technique used in Raku pottery of scraping straight edges along the body of the vessel, thus producing contrast and a degree of desirable non-uniformity in the ceramic landscape.
This piece was fired in the kilns of one of Kyoto’s most prolific Raku-yaki potters, Sasaki Shoraku III (1944-) who belongs to a lineage that began when his grandfather established a kiln near the famous Kiyomizu temple, nestled at the foot of the eastern mountains in Kyoto. In 1945, the kiln was moved to Kameoka near Yada shrine where it remains today. While not directly associated with the famous Kyoto potting family now in its 16th generation and stretching back over 450 years, this potting lineage has been known to make rather competent Raku-ware. Unlike the historic Raku household however, they tend to produce things on more of a mass scale and much of the work they put out is a far cry from “original” Raku-ware. Occasionally though, if you search long enough you do come across pieces by this potting family that are exceptional, such as this red tea bowl that is not only on par with some of the best Raku-ware out there but also much more affordable than pieces by the main Raku household that tend to be one or two orders of magnitude more expensive.
In excellent condition this tea bowl is 4.75 inches in diameter (12cm) and stands 3.5 inches tall (9cm). It comes with a signed and sealed original box (tomobako) and a protective wrapping cloth bearing Shoraku’s seal. As mentioned earlier, this piece has a poetic name, a distinction usually reserved for only the very best piece by an artist as judged by a practicing tea master. In this case, the honorific title was granted by Tachibana Daiki, a Rinzai Zen monk who served two terms as the head of the Daitoku-ji sect and became the highest advisor in 1963 and in 1973. Later he served as the president of Hanazō University and authored several books relating to Buddhism and tea practice such as "The Way to Steadfastness" and “A Return to Rikyu." He passed away on August 25th, 2005 at the grand old age of 105; meaning his signature on the box would have been granted sometime before that.
*** International shipping and insurance is included in the price
Here we have an exceptional Raku tea bowl given the poetic name "Setsu-gekka" (snow, moon, flower) — a phrase often used in Japanese art and literature to evoke a sense of beauty, tranquility, and the passing of seasons. With a masterfully applied red Raku glaze and a noticeable aesthetic of asymmetrical balance, this piece highlights a very old technique used in Raku pottery of scraping straight edges along the body of the vessel, thus producing contrast and a degree of desirable non-uniformity in the ceramic landscape.
This piece was fired in the kilns of one of Kyoto’s most prolific Raku-yaki potters, Sasaki Shoraku III (1944-) who belongs to a lineage that began when his grandfather established a kiln near the famous Kiyomizu temple, nestled at the foot of the eastern mountains in Kyoto. In 1945, the kiln was moved to Kameoka near Yada shrine where it remains today. While not directly associated with the famous Kyoto potting family now in its 16th generation and stretching back over 450 years, this potting lineage has been known to make rather competent Raku-ware. Unlike the historic Raku household however, they tend to produce things on more of a mass scale and much of the work they put out is a far cry from “original” Raku-ware. Occasionally though, if you search long enough you do come across pieces by this potting family that are exceptional, such as this red tea bowl that is not only on par with some of the best Raku-ware out there but also much more affordable than pieces by the main Raku household that tend to be one or two orders of magnitude more expensive.
In excellent condition this tea bowl is 4.75 inches in diameter (12cm) and stands 3.5 inches tall (9cm). It comes with a signed and sealed original box (tomobako) and a protective wrapping cloth bearing Shoraku’s seal. As mentioned earlier, this piece has a poetic name, a distinction usually reserved for only the very best piece by an artist as judged by a practicing tea master. In this case, the honorific title was granted by Tachibana Daiki, a Rinzai Zen monk who served two terms as the head of the Daitoku-ji sect and became the highest advisor in 1963 and in 1973. Later he served as the president of Hanazō University and authored several books relating to Buddhism and tea practice such as "The Way to Steadfastness" and “A Return to Rikyu." He passed away on August 25th, 2005 at the grand old age of 105; meaning his signature on the box would have been granted sometime before that.
*** International shipping and insurance is included in the price
