Ginkgo leaf-shaped cup

Signed: 華中亭道八製 (Kachūtei Dōhachi sei)

Kyoto, Japan, late Edo period (circa 1830–1850)

Nin'ami Dōhachi II (1783 – 1855)

Dimensions: height 5.5 cm – width 16 cm – depth 13.5 cm

Description

A Kyō-yaki soft-paste bowl, finely shaped like a ginkgo leaf resting on three small feet, with the forked ginkgo fruit modeled in relief on the underside. Covered with a crackled white glaze with soft highlights, it illustrates the mastery of modeling and materials characteristic of Kyoto workshops in the first half of the 19th century.

The object, signed on the reverse with the underglaze blue seal 華中亭道八製 (Kachūtei Dōhachi sei), is a work by Nin'ami Dōhachi II. It is a utensil intended for the presentation of sweets (kashi) during the tea ceremony.

Historical context and biography of the artist

Ni Ami Dōhachi II, whose given name was Takahashi Mitsutoki, was born in Kyoto in 1783. Heir to the first Dōhachi, he took over the family kiln in Awataguchi in 1804, then moved it to Gojōzaka in 1811, in the heart of Kyoto's ceramic district. Trained by the Hōzan family and Okuda Eisen, he developed an art of great formal freedom, blending Chinese influences with Japanese sensibility.

In 1842, he passed on his main workshop to his son and founded a new kiln in Fushimi-Momoyama, where he continued his production until his death in 1855. The artist signed his pieces with the name Kachūtei (“flower pavilion”), a pseudonym that can be found on many works preserved in Japan and abroad.

Dōhachi occupies an essential place in the revival of Kyō-yaki in the late Edo period. He revisits the legacy of Nonomura Ninsei and Ogata Kenzan while affirming a taste for forms inspired by nature – leaves, fruits, flowers or animals – characteristic of the literati sensibility specific to Kyoto.

Typology and style

This ginkgo leaf-shaped cup belongs to a collection of precious, naturalistic objects produced in Kyoto during the 19th century. The fine, slightly creamy clay, the light glaze, and the fluid modeling reflect a taste for observed and stylized nature. The balance between decorative elegance and ritual function makes it an emblematic piece of the refined teaware of the late Edo period.

Comparable works and museum dissemination

Pieces bearing the same Kachūtei Dōhachi sei mark are preserved in several major institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Tea Bowl with Hydrangeas, Bowl in the Shape of a Paulownia Leaf), the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, the Brooklyn Museum and the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo.

A retrospective dedicated to the artist, "Ninnami Dōhachi: An Observant and Brilliant Potter", was presented at the Suntory Museum of Art in 2014–2015. It highlighted the diversity of her work and her foundational role in redefining Kyoto ceramics in the 19th century.

Aesthetic importance

This cup illustrates the poetic sensibility of Nin'ami Dōhachi II, where nature becomes the vehicle for a reflection on ephemeral beauty. The ginkgo, a symbol of longevity and memory, provides a support that is both functional and contemplative. Through the purity of its glaze and the precision of its form, the piece expresses the balance between the rigor of the tea ceremony and the freedom of the scholar's gaze, at the heart of Kyoto's ceramic tradition.