Deep footed bowl
Korean
Description
In the final decade of sixteenth century, Japanese forces under orders from the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea, in what would be a disastrous attempt to conquer China. While there, they discovered the rustic earthenware rice bowls that were in widespread use among peasant farmers. The Japanese generals, who were all schooled in tea, recognized that these simple bowls fit perfectly the criteria for “found art” espoused by the influential tea master Sen no Rikyû. The ido chawan or “well-side tea bowls” they bought home would be treasured as family heirlooms. Korean potters were also brought to Japan as part of the spoils of war, and their descendants at the Hagi clan kilns in western Japan continued to make a ware that recalls the ido type.
Subject Matter:
15-16th century, five spur marks, made by provincial kilns in southwest Korean, Kimhae and Jinji area
(visiting Korean curators from Ehwa University, notes by Min Li 7/07)
Physical Description:
The mouth is straight. The side is gently curved to the bottom. The foot is hgh and narrow. It was repaired.
Produced between the 15th and 16th century at a privately owned kiln in the southwestern region of Gyeongsangnam-do, this bowl has been restored following breakage into ten pieces. Its rim curves inwards. It is made with stoneware clay. There are five spur marks on the inner base, and the glaze on the rim of its foot has been wiped away. It is coated with opaque white glaze, on which have formed many crackles and pinholes. The color of glaze is not even throughout the surface. Vessels of this type were popular in Japan as tea bowls (茶碗, Jap. chawan).
[Korean Collection, University of Michigan Museum of Art (2014) p.160]
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