The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 25, 2021

Tea Storage Jar

茶壺

mid- to late 1600s

Nonomura Ninsei 野々村仁清

(Japanese, active 1600s)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Stoneware with white glaze (Shigaraki style)

Diameter: 28.7 cm (11 5/16 in.); Overall: 28.3 cm (11 1/8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1978.6

Location

235A Japanese

Fun Fact

This jar may be considered an example of the aesthetic known as <em>kireisabi</em>, or refined rusticity.

Description

Nonomura Ninsei is best known for elaborately glazed and painted works, but this piece recalls Shigaraki ware in basic composition. Shigaraki ware is recognized for its warm orange color, asymmetrical round forms, and irregular natural ash glazes. These features were largely unintentional on the part of their makers, whose principal goal was a functional jar. Some tea masters employed Shigaraki vessels as found objects manifesting effortless and imperfect beauty. In Ninsei’s take on Shigaraki, though, careful symmetry is used as a backdrop for deliberately subtle and pleasing deviations such as would appeal to a tea master interested in refined rusticity.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Ninsei seal impressed in the clay on bottom.

Provenance
paper on underside of box lid: A tea container by Ninsei alleged to come from the Meada family of Toyama.
?-1978
(Fugendo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1978-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Zauhō Kankōkai 座右寶刋行會. Sekai tōji zenshū [世界陶磁全集 = Ceramic Art of the World]. Vol. 6, Edo hen [江戶篇 = Edo Period]. Edited by Tadamari Mitsuoka. Tōkyō: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1955. Reproduced: p. 125, pl. 120
Yamane, Yūzō 山根有三, Shūjirō Shimada 島田修二郎, and Terukazu Akiyama 秋山光和. Zaigai Nihon no shihō 在外日本の至宝. Tōkyō: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1979. Mentioned and Reproduced; no. 75, p. 140, plate 75
Cort, Louise Allison. Shigaraki, Potters' Valley. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1979. Reproduced: fig. 176, p. 157
Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1978.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 66, no. 1, 1979, pp. 3–47. Reproduced: cat. no. 146, p. 40 www.jstor.org
Neils, Jenifer. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. Reproduced: cat. no. 149
Yamane, Yūzō 山根有三, Takashi Hamada 山根有三, et al. Zaigai bijutsu 在外美術. Tōkyō: Shōgakukan, 1994. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 219; p. 237, no. 129
Exhibition history

Ishikawa Prefectural Museum, #58, 19?

One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650) from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Japan House Gallery, New York, NY (March 19-May 17, 1981).

The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 30-September 5, 1982).

Year in Review: 1978. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 13-March 18, 1979).

Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).

Reeds and Geese: Japanese Art from the Collection of George Gund III. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 21-September 3, 2017).

Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation - October 2020-April 2021. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 23, 2020-January 17, 2021).

Source URL: https://cmaweb23-bbn-2.clevelandart.org/art/1978.6