CHINA, ZHANGZHOU KILNS, FUJIAN PROVINCE, MING DYNASTY (16TH CENTURY)

Ceramics of this type, commonly known as Swatow ware (Gosu in Japanese), were imported to Japan for use as serving vessels for food in Japanese tea events (chanoyu). Louise Allison Cort illustrates a similar bowl recently excavated in Kyoto in her "Shopping for Pots in Momoyama Japan," in Morgan Pitelka, ed., Japanese Tea Culture (London and New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003), fig. 3.8.