17. Black-grey-glazed haikatsugi stoneware tea bowl and mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer tea bowl stand

Bowl: Southern Song dynasty, 1127 - 1279
Jian kilns, Fujian province
Diameter: 12.8cm

Stand: Yuan dynasty, 1279 - 1368
Max. diameter: 16.7cm

From the Jian kilns in Shuiji, Jianyang county, Fujian province, this particular bowl has fired on the exterior to a soft ash-grey tone, rather than the more usual black-brown.  In Japan this type of glaze is especially prized and is known as haikatsugi; only a few examples are known, and the present one has been noted as being extremely rare for the fact that its glaze is truly grey. The bowl appears to have entered the collection of the Mori family of Kai prefecture (modern day Yamanashi) around 1660. Its significance was recognised at the time when it was itemised in the publication Ganka meibutsu-ki (Record of Famed Pleasurable Objects) (ca. 1660).  Most recently, it has been in the collection of Chief Abbot Arima Raitei, of Shōkoku-ji Temple, Kyoto. The bowl is accompanied by a Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368) mother-of-pearl lacquer tea bowl stand with intricately inlaid floral scrolls.