Set of twelve bowls with poems and erotic or fantastic scenes – Japan, Shōwa 16 (1941)

Rare service of twelve small rectangular bowls in fine stoneware with beige slip, each piece decorated with a calligraphed poem in kanbun on one side, signed 亂山書 (Ranzan sho), and a painted scene on the other: erotic silhouettes, yokai or ghosts half-hidden behind a screen or a paper partition.

These bowls belong to the tradition of en-zara or haikai-zara, literary games where poetry, humor, and sensuality unite in a double language. The refined writing and discreet compositions testify to the work of a scholar, undoubtedly from a poetic circle in Kyoto. The original receipt, dated October 1941 (Shōwa 16), mentions the Kamanza district, a former center of workshops related to the tea arts.

The poems, composed in classical Chinese, form a complete cycle of twelve months. Each text evokes the corresponding season—spring and flowers, summer rain, the autumn moon, the winter cold—while slipping in a Zen reflection on time, desire, and impermanence. The pictorial reverse offers a sensual or fantastical counterpart: humans facing their passions, fears, or dreams.

Through their refinement and the subtlety of their tone, these bowls constitute an exceptional example of literate ceramics from the first half of the 20th century, where the spirit of haikai and chanoyu combines with the impertinence of hidden pleasures.

Japan, Kyōto (probably Gojō-zaka)

Dated October 1941 (Shōwa 16)

Signature: 亂山書 (Ranzan sho)

Fine glazed stoneware, beige slip, underglaze painted decoration

Dimensions: approx. 10.5 x 8 cm

Complete set of twelve pieces accompanied by its original dated and stamped leaflet and tomobako.