Crown-form Ko-sometsuke incense box, kogo
China, Jingdezhen kilns
Ming Dynasty, Tianqi Period (1620-1627)
Modelled as a Chinese crown, decorated with lines and flowers to the front in underglaze cobalt. 5.75cm high, 6cm diameter. Together with a Japanese wooden box.
For a similar example see: ‘Ko-sometsuke (Monochrome Section)’, Masahiko Kawahara, Kyoto Shoin Co. Ltd., 1977. Catalogue 77, p 22.
Catalogue 132.
Ko-sometsuke and Shonsui wares
The Japanese term Ko-sometsuke is best translated as ‘old blue and white’. Chinese ceramics and art had enjoyed a privileged place in Japanese high culture since the Asuka Period (538-710). At the fall of China’s Ming dynasty during the Tianqi Period (1620-1627), the kilns at Jingdezhen were suddenly unsupported by the Imperial court, and were seeking outside markets. Some of the great Japanese tea ceremony masters who also happened to be shipping merchants began to order blue and white porcelain from Jingdezhen according to their own designs. These pieces were unique in their designs and forms, being specifically made for use in the tea ceremony and kaiseki dining. Ko-sometsuke is often thickly potted, with warping and heavily fritted rims (called mushikui in Japanese, meaning insect-eaten). It was often based on Oribe and Shino forms and often used similar decoration, so exemplifying the wabi-sabi aesthetic (withered elegance). It was primally important in Sen no Rikyu’s wabi style of tea ceremony which was the prevailing style of the Momoyama (1568-1600) and early Edo (1603-1868) periods. A new style of Chinese blue and white for the Japanese market evolved in the Chongzhen period (1627-1644), informed by a new aesthetic established by Kobori Enshu (1579-1647), kirei-sabi (refined elegance). These wares known as Shonsui were more finely decorated, often with repeating brocade patterns within segmented designs.
China, Jingdezhen kilns
Ming Dynasty, Tianqi Period (1620-1627)
Modelled as a Chinese crown, decorated with lines and flowers to the front in underglaze cobalt. 5.75cm high, 6cm diameter. Together with a Japanese wooden box.
For a similar example see: ‘Ko-sometsuke (Monochrome Section)’, Masahiko Kawahara, Kyoto Shoin Co. Ltd., 1977. Catalogue 77, p 22.
Catalogue 132.
Ko-sometsuke and Shonsui wares
The Japanese term Ko-sometsuke is best translated as ‘old blue and white’. Chinese ceramics and art had enjoyed a privileged place in Japanese high culture since the Asuka Period (538-710). At the fall of China’s Ming dynasty during the Tianqi Period (1620-1627), the kilns at Jingdezhen were suddenly unsupported by the Imperial court, and were seeking outside markets. Some of the great Japanese tea ceremony masters who also happened to be shipping merchants began to order blue and white porcelain from Jingdezhen according to their own designs. These pieces were unique in their designs and forms, being specifically made for use in the tea ceremony and kaiseki dining. Ko-sometsuke is often thickly potted, with warping and heavily fritted rims (called mushikui in Japanese, meaning insect-eaten). It was often based on Oribe and Shino forms and often used similar decoration, so exemplifying the wabi-sabi aesthetic (withered elegance). It was primally important in Sen no Rikyu’s wabi style of tea ceremony which was the prevailing style of the Momoyama (1568-1600) and early Edo (1603-1868) periods. A new style of Chinese blue and white for the Japanese market evolved in the Chongzhen period (1627-1644), informed by a new aesthetic established by Kobori Enshu (1579-1647), kirei-sabi (refined elegance). These wares known as Shonsui were more finely decorated, often with repeating brocade patterns within segmented designs.
China, Jingdezhen kilns
Ming Dynasty, Tianqi Period (1620-1627)
Modelled as a Chinese crown, decorated with lines and flowers to the front in underglaze cobalt. 5.75cm high, 6cm diameter. Together with a Japanese wooden box.
For a similar example see: ‘Ko-sometsuke (Monochrome Section)’, Masahiko Kawahara, Kyoto Shoin Co. Ltd., 1977. Catalogue 77, p 22.
Catalogue 132.
Ko-sometsuke and Shonsui wares
The Japanese term Ko-sometsuke is best translated as ‘old blue and white’. Chinese ceramics and art had enjoyed a privileged place in Japanese high culture since the Asuka Period (538-710). At the fall of China’s Ming dynasty during the Tianqi Period (1620-1627), the kilns at Jingdezhen were suddenly unsupported by the Imperial court, and were seeking outside markets. Some of the great Japanese tea ceremony masters who also happened to be shipping merchants began to order blue and white porcelain from Jingdezhen according to their own designs. These pieces were unique in their designs and forms, being specifically made for use in the tea ceremony and kaiseki dining. Ko-sometsuke is often thickly potted, with warping and heavily fritted rims (called mushikui in Japanese, meaning insect-eaten). It was often based on Oribe and Shino forms and often used similar decoration, so exemplifying the wabi-sabi aesthetic (withered elegance). It was primally important in Sen no Rikyu’s wabi style of tea ceremony which was the prevailing style of the Momoyama (1568-1600) and early Edo (1603-1868) periods. A new style of Chinese blue and white for the Japanese market evolved in the Chongzhen period (1627-1644), informed by a new aesthetic established by Kobori Enshu (1579-1647), kirei-sabi (refined elegance). These wares known as Shonsui were more finely decorated, often with repeating brocade patterns within segmented designs.