An Oribe Bowl of Indented Form
Momoyama - Early Edo Period, late 16th - early 17th c., Japan
22.5cm L. x 19.7cm D. x 8.5cm H.
A shallow rectangular stoneware bowl with parenthesis-formed indents centered on the long sides. The walls are stepped in creating a shelf just above the recessed flat bottom. The Northeast and Southwest corners of the bowl are dipped in a mottled deep, dark grassy green glaze with feint bluish tinges, that pools into drips. The remaining interior section has a slip base, and runs in an opposing diagonal from corner to corner. It is buff color with underglaze iron-oxide-brown scrolling tendril decoration with scattered spirals, forming small clusters along the vines. The corners have brown double lines just below the rim.
The sections of the exterior walls not dipped in green glaze are decorated with stylized pine sprigs in iron oxide brown. The bottom is flattened and largely unglazed, but has some areas of slip and dark grean beads of glaze overflowing from the sides. The unglazed surface shows a brown stoneware body, and has four loop feet near the corners. A similarly indented form, but with a handle, is published in “Nippon Toji Zenshu” Chuo Koron, Tokyo 1976. Vol. 16, pl. 2. Another from the John D. Rockefellar Collection is published in “Turning Point - Oribe and the Arts of 16th century Japan” Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003. No. 69.
Condition:
Excellent condition. There is one small, old rim chip, now blackened with age, and other small firing flaws. Provenance:
Mizutani Shukodo (Shoichiro Mizutani) Kyoto, until 2010
Private collection, New York
Literature:
“Leighton R. Longhi: Forty-Five Years in Asian Art “, pg. 347, # 363
