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Longquan ware bowl
mid 12th century

Southern Song dynasty

Stoneware with celadon glaze
H: 5.7 W: 15.3 cm
China

Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1908.12

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The gray-green glaze as well as the incised and combed decor identify this bowl as a product of the Tongan kilns, a major producer of modest quality ceramics made for export. In Japan, such bowls became important pieces in the style of tea ceremony known as wabicha, which favored objects expressing the beauty of age and poverty. They became known as "Juko celadon" after Murata Juko (1422–1502), an early advocate of wabicha.