Most Kenzan tea bowls are cylindrical in form. Their ancestral form can be seen in the undōde tea bowls produced at the Jingdezhen private kilns in Ming-dynasty China. Kenzan made use of the flatness of this cylindrical shape to apply highly painterly designs to them. In this example, one side has a pine tree painted in underglaze iron and dark underglaze blue; the opposite side has the verse Senko shibomazaru keisetsu ari ("The eternal resilience never to shrivel away") in underglaze iron. With this verse, which praises the power of the pine to retain its needles throughout the year, Kenzan likens the tea bowl to a poetic hanging scroll.
Search by title, artist, place, style or other key words
2025 January
2025 February
2025 March
2025 April
2025 May
2025 June
2025 July
2025 August
2025 September
2025 October
2025 November
2025 December
2026 January
2026 February
2026 March
2026 April
2026 May
2026 June
2026 July
2026 August
2026 September
2026 October
2026 November
2026 December