A Negoro washbasin
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 1… Read more
A Negoro washbasin

MOMOYAMA PERIOD (16TH CENTURY)

Details
A Negoro washbasin
Momoyama Period (16th century)
Of turned and assembled wood with a flat base, the exterior with a decorative band, resting on three outward facing feet, the rim and legs in red lacquer, the interior, sides and undersides lacquered black
39.5cm. diam.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

In Buddhist temples the fusatsu ceremony is held on the fifteenth day of each month as an act of repentance for sins and errors committed during the previous month. This formal basin, or tarai, sometimes also known as fusatsu tearai, would have held the water for participants to wash their hands during the ceremony, forming a set with the shukindai, a small rack on which hand-towels were hung.

A few basins without feet have been preserved at temples in and around Nara, such as Horyuji and Todaiji, but most medieval vessals of this type are stabilised by adding three powerful neko-ashi ['cat's-paw' feet]. When the basin is placed on a flat surface the three feet would probably have helped to improve the flow of air around the liquid and to protect the vessel from damage.

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