Kyoyaki sometsuke - Nanga
Sencha tea set: teapot - kyûsu, water cooler - yuzamashi and 10 tea cups - yunomiSigned: Tessai okina & Dôhachi
Seals:
Technique: Kyoyaki sometsuke, porcelain with a hand painted cobalt blue underglaze decoration from Kyoto.
Box: Inscribed
Condition: a tiny hairline in the teapot, used, otherwise very good
茶器 Chawan (tea cups), Ø 5,7 x 4,5
湯冷 Yuzamashi (water cooler), 9 x 5,4 x 4,4
茶銚 Kyûsu (tea pot): Ø 7,7 x 6,5 (10 x 9,5 x 6,5)
Kinpaku no kyô, chazen no takara, Staying in the realm of sincereness with Tea and Zen as its treasures
Tomioka Tessai was born in Kyoto into a family selling robes and accessories for the Buddhist clergy. As a result of a childhood illness he became partly deaf. It was therefore considered improbable that he would ever become a successful shopkeeper. Instead he went to study the Japanese classics in order to become a Shinto priest. He also did Chinese studies, specializing in the teachings of the neo-confucianist Wang Yang-Ming. Later he would study Buddhism, literature and Shingaku, a semi-religious system for self-cultivation. As a youth he met Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) and became her special protégé. She taught him waka and encouraged his artistic inclinations. In the final years of the Tokugawa era Tessai was involved in the pro-imperialist movement. For fear of being arrested he left Kyoto in 1861 and travelled to Nagasaki. It was the first of many trips; Tessai became and avid traveller. In 1882 he settled in Kyoto where he spent the rest of his life. Although he worked as a priest at several Shinto shrines, he saw painting as his chief occupation. Between 1894 and 1904 he was a teacher at the Kyoto Prefectural Art School and he was a regular contributor to exhibitions of the Nanga Society. In 1917 he was appointed Artist to the Imperial Household and towards the end of his life he received an honorary court-rank. Tessai is often seen as the last great exponent of the Nanga school. (AB)
Reference:
Kanazawa
Kato 1998
Roberts p. 181
Araki pp. 2754-2755
Aburai pp. 266-267
Morioka & Berry ‘99 pp. 116-121 (# 20-21)
Morioka & Berry ‘08 p. 305-06 (# 11, 46)
Takahashi Dohachi V is descended from one of the three most famous Kyoto potter families. The fifth generation took control of the kiln in 1897.
Price: ON REQUEST
