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Lot 522
522
A Set of Five Glazed Earthenware Food Dishes (Mukozuke)
A Set of Five Glazed Earthenware Food Dishes (Mukozuke)

KENZAN WARE, EDO PERIOD (18TH CENTURY), EACH SIGNED KENZAN SEI SHO AND SEALED KENZAN AND SHINSHO (OGATA KENZAN; 1663-1743)

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A Set of Five Glazed Earthenware Food Dishes (Mukozuke) Kenzan ware, Edo period (18th century), each signed Kenzan Sei Sho and sealed Kenzan and Shinsho (Ogata Kenzan; 1663-1743) Each shallow dish rectangular with short walls and rounded, notched corners, decorated in underglaze iron oxide with flowers or pines within squiggly line borders, the exterior sides decorated with diamond patterns and the rims outlined with a brown line, each additionally decorated with a transparent overglaze 7¼ x 4 1/8 x 1in. (18.5 x 10.5 x 2.5cm.) each approx. With wood box signed and authenticated by the 15th Grand Tea Master of the Urasenke tea school, Hounsai Genshitsu (b. 1923), and with kao (cursive monogram) (5)

Lot Essay

Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) is Japan's most celebrated potter. His ceramics are non-traditional, playful, painterly and, above all, highly original. Kenzan adapted the "cornered dish" (kakuzara) from a lacquer or wood model, the flat surface of which is the perfect plane for a painting. Dishes such as these are used to serve light food at the tea gathering.

Kenzan pottery was a popular tradition lasting over several centuries, complicating the dating of wares with the Kenzan signature or seals.

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