Genkotsu chawan, Japanese Mino black-stoneware tea bowl, late Edo period

Japanese Mino stoneware tea bowl of genkotsu chawan (“fist bowl”) type, dating from the late Edo period. This Mino matcha bowl has a slightly incurving cylindrical body, deliberately deformed by finger pressure while the clay was still plastic. The regular indentations give the bowl a taut silhouette characteristic of the genkotsu chawan sought by nineteenth-century practitioners of chanoyu.

The pale clay body, visible at the tall, broadly exposed foot, is covered with a thick iron-rich black glaze. The interior is a deep matt black, while the exterior is more lustrous. Against this dark ground, splashes of white feldspar form raised patches and runs around the lines of the indentations, creating a lively decoration recalling effects found on certain Karatsu bowls, interpreted here within the Mino black-glaze tradition.

On the underside, the carefully turned foot displays concentric lines and a small circular workshop seal impressed on its edge. Although unattributed, the mark is characteristic of Mino wares made for the tea ceremony. The firing, black glaze and feldspar decoration place this Japanese tea bowl in the Seto–Toki region around 1830–1850, although some date examples of this type to the late eighteenth century.

In use, the contrast between the slightly granular black glaze and the intense green of matcha highlights the wabi-sabi aesthetic of Japanese Mino ceramics. This genkotsu chawan is a work of strong character for collectors of Japanese ceramics or contemporary interiors attuned to the spirit of chanoyu.

Dimensions: 7.8 × 11.5 cm.