Japanese Art | Tea caddy in style of Zhangzhou ware

Tea caddy in style of Zhangzhou ware

mid 19th century

Kashu Mimpei , (Japanese, 1796-1871)
Edo period

Stoneware with iron and cobalt pigments and white slip under colorless glaze; ivory lid.
H: 7.8 W: 8.1 D: 8.1 cm
Awaji island, Japan

Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1899.90a-b

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A bushy-tailed mythical beast, flaming clouds, and plants, framed by dotted borders, comprise the Chinese-style decoration on this jar. The motifs are derived from cobalt-decorated porcelain jars and bowls made at southern Chinese kilns in Fujian province in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that became popular chanoyu utensils in Japan. The Mimpei pottery, a small-scale workshop operated by the cultivated son of a village headman, produced interpretations of various Chinese and Japanese ceramic wares. On this tea caddy, iron rather than cobalt pigment was used to paint the motifs, while cobalt dissolved in the glaze veils the entire piece with a blue tone.