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Description

Seto ware ceramic tea caddy (without its lid). Flat base showing rough, dark grey-brown body. Squat cylindrical form curving sharply inward at shoulder to short neck, rounded lip. Thick iridescent coffee-coloured glaze thins over lip, pools darkly beneath it, thinning again at the shoulder. From there dark brown streaks, sometimes exhibiting, crackling fall over the glossy surface to the base, where glaze chipped in one place. Two matte brown repairs, and two gold lacquer ones, located on lip.

History Of Use

Called chaire (茶入れ), this is a type of tea caddy used for storing concentrated think green powdered tea to serve koicha (濃茶; “thick tea”) in a traditional form of the Japanese tea ceremony known as sadō or chadō (茶道; the way of tea) and chanoyu (茶の湯). This elaborate ritual became an important part of Japan’s social fabric early in the 16th century, and is a choregraphed way of preparing and serving tea. Koicha is served at a chaji (a more formal tea ceremony than a chakai). Seto ware (瀬戸焼, Seto-yaki) was produced under the auspices of the Owari clan.

Narrative

Ed5.3160-64 (five ceramic tea caddies) were purchased from Sotheby's, NY, in 1982. The containers each had an ivory lid, however the lids were seized at the border due to the ban on the export and import of material derived from endangered species (CITES).