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Lot Essay
Wood storage box with attestation by Kohitsu Ryochu (d.1736), second generation of the Edo branch of the Kohitsu line of art appraisers, referring to the influential tea master Kanamori Sowa (1584-1656, see Tokyo Bijutsu Seinenkai, Bijutsu techo [Art handbook] (Tokyo, Shufunotomosha, 1993), pp. 226, 230-1); silk storage bag
Karatsu is the name of a port in Hizen province (present-day Saga prefecture) in Kyushu, the most southerly and westerly of modern Japan's four main islands. It is sometimes used as a collective term describing the many stonewares that were made in Hizen during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including not only this type but also many other Kyushu wares. More strictly applied, however, Karatsu (along with other terms such as Ko-Karatsu and E-Garatsu) describes the products of a particular group of kilns in the north-western part of Hizen that were probably founded by Korean immigrants towards the end of the sixteenth century. These kilns were of the noborigama or 'climbing kiln' type, built into the sides of hills, an arrangement that produced the strong draught necessary to reach the high temperatures required for the firing of sophisticated glazed stonewares, and the pots themselves were thrown on a foot-operated kick-wheel that left the hands free to shape and model each piece. For another example of Oku-Gorai ware, see Christie's, Ceramic Masterpieces from Southern Japan: Tea Ware and Porcelain from the Tanakamaru Foundation Collection (London, 2001), cat. nos. 2-3.
Karatsu is the name of a port in Hizen province (present-day Saga prefecture) in Kyushu, the most southerly and westerly of modern Japan's four main islands. It is sometimes used as a collective term describing the many stonewares that were made in Hizen during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including not only this type but also many other Kyushu wares. More strictly applied, however, Karatsu (along with other terms such as Ko-Karatsu and E-Garatsu) describes the products of a particular group of kilns in the north-western part of Hizen that were probably founded by Korean immigrants towards the end of the sixteenth century. These kilns were of the noborigama or 'climbing kiln' type, built into the sides of hills, an arrangement that produced the strong draught necessary to reach the high temperatures required for the firing of sophisticated glazed stonewares, and the pots themselves were thrown on a foot-operated kick-wheel that left the hands free to shape and model each piece. For another example of Oku-Gorai ware, see Christie's, Ceramic Masterpieces from Southern Japan: Tea Ware and Porcelain from the Tanakamaru Foundation Collection (London, 2001), cat. nos. 2-3.