A Fine Negoro Heishi [Bottle]
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A Fine Negoro Heishi [Bottle]

KAMAKURA/MUROMACHI PERIOD (14TH-15TH CENTURY)

Details
A Fine Negoro Heishi [Bottle]
Kamakura/Muromachi Period (14th-15th Century)
Of turned and assembled wood with curved top meeting the everted sides to form a crisp edge, the sides narrowing towards a broad base above a low foot, the underside slightly recessed, the spout rising from a raised circular platform, the red lacquer worn away in places, especially at the rim, revealing the black lacquer beneath, the recessed underside lacquered black and inscribed with the character ue [above] and a mark in the form of the character i [well]
Height 12 1/16in (30.6cm.); diam. 8¾in. (22.2cm.)
Literature
Mizuguchi Saburo and Arakawa Hirokazu, Negoro (Atami: Atami Bijutsukan, 1966), cat. no. 1.
Nara Kenritsu Bijutsukan [Nara Prefectural Museum of Art], Tokubetsuten: Negoro no bi [Special exhibition: The beauty of Negoro] (Nara: 1975), cat. no. 71.
Kawada Sadamu, Negoro-nuri [Negoro ware], Nihon no bijutsu, 120 (Tokyo; Shibundo, April 1976), no. 4.
Santori Bijutsukan [Suntory Museum of Art], Negoro-nuri [Negoro ware] (Tokyo: 1979), no. 2.
Kawada Sadamu, Negoro (Kyoto: Shikosha, 1985), cat. no. 9.
Sakai-shi Hakubutsukan [Sakai City Museum], Shu-urushi (Negoro): Sono yo to bi: Shunki tokubetsuten [Red Lacquer: Utility and Beauty of Negoro: Spring Special Exhibition] (26 April - 25 May 1986; Sakai: 1986), cat. no. 7.
[Anon.], 'Tokushu Negoro [Negoro: Special edition]', Yuraku, 9 (1990), p. 12.
Arakawa Hirokazu and others, Nihon no shitsugei 5: Urushi-e, Negoro [Lacquer art of Japan 5: Urushi-e and Negoro] (Standard edition; Tokyo: Chuokoronsha, 1991), cat. no. 75.
Ishikawa-ken Wajima Shitsugei Bijutsukan [Ishikawa Wajima Urushi Art Museum], Tokubetsuten: Negoro, sono katachi to iro [Special exhibition of Negoro: Its form and colour] (10 October - 7 December 1998; Wajima: 1998), cat. no. 1.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

Pairs of bottles of this type, containing sacred sake, are traditionally offered before the altars of Buddhist temples. The influence of the Chinese meiping form is apparent in the small cylindrical mouth and the S-shaped curve running from the broad shoulders to the slender waist and widening again towards the base. This particular bottle is especially interesting because of the manner in which the two arcs, inward and outward, are so clearly divided at the shoulders. It should also be noted that the spreading base is exceptionally wide, contributing to the bottle's stability. This is a particularly good example of the Japanese interpretation of the meiping form, and the traces of the brush left on the final coat of red lacquer make a significant contribution to its overall aesthetic impact.

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