S uperbly potted of generous proportions, the current tea bowl, decorated with a most exquisite dappled black glaze with striking iridescent 'oil spot' markings, is a very rare and exemplary product of the Song dynasty (960-1279) Jian kilns in northern Fujian province. The desirability of these bowls coevolved with the tea-drinking tradition of the period in China and across the region in Asia, with travelling monks bringing the vessels to Japan during the Kamakura period, which explains why many of the greatest extant tenmoku bowls have been passed down in Japan. The tradition of densei ('passing down') in Japan refers to the passing down of cherished objects from one generation to the next within a lineage, which further elevates each object over time.
The unpredictability of the air bubbles in the glaze as they burst during the firing had an effect on the outcome of the black glazes of the tea bowls from the Jian kilns, which explains why tenmoku bowls are seen with ‘hare’s fur’ streaks, as well as oil spots, each one ranging in tone from russet brown to metallic blue. Bowls with russet-brown ‘hare’s fur’ streaks are perhaps more commonly seen and most iconic of the Jian tea bowls, but those with a metallic bluish tinge, such as the present bowl, are the most sought after and celebrated.
Jian artisans experimented within this ceramic type with dazzling results. By manipulating body and glaze compositions, kiln temperatures, the cooling process, and allowing for the interventions of chance factors in the firing process, Jian potters created wares that display the full potential of the iron oxide glaze, and in order to achieve the shimmering effect of 'oil-spot' glazes, the craftsman would have had to interrupt the firing between the moment when the spots formed and the moment when they dissolved into streaks.
The generous proportions of the current bowl are also particularly notable, as large Jian bowls are considerably rarer. During the excavation at Luhuaping in Jianyang, Fujian, only three large conical bowls (average size measuring 18.2 cm) were recovered, against a total of 980 tea bowls, see Robert D. Mowry, Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 1995, p. 207, p. 217.
Compare a similar yuteki tenmoku conical bowl, also of generous proportions (19.2 cm), from the collection of Charles Lang Freer who purchased it from Shinsuke Hayashi in Kyoto in 1909, now preserved in the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C, F1909.369.
此 茶盌器型頗大，比例和諧，飾以最精妙之油滴紋，乃宋代福建省北部建窰出類拔萃之典範。伴隨中國及亞洲地區茶文化興起，人們對諸類茶盞趨之若鶩。鐮倉時代，遊僧攜是類器皿遠渡東瀛，天目茶盌得以流傳至今。日本著重「伝世（傳世）」傳統，即將珍愛之物世代遞傳，時移勢遷，物品會被賦予新的意義。
建盞黑釉耀眼，釉色變化多樣，窰燒時，釉料順盌壁流下，形成如絲細紋，稱之兔毫（日文「禾目」）；釉面呈圓點緻密狀，稱為油滴（日文「油滴」），色調紅褐至耀藍者皆可見。褐釉兔毫較為常見，亦最具代表性，而泛藍油滴則較為罕見，二者之間可見無數種釉色變化。此兔毫茶盞釉色亮澤，金銅色細毫隱隱閃耀銀光，乃禾目品類中珍稀者。
工匠經多番試驗，通過調整胚體、釉料配方、窰溫、冷卻過程，加燒製過程中偶然因素影響，終以巧妙之技現神奇之成，所造器物盡顯氧化鐵釉所長。為體現「油斑」釉光閃閃，須在斑點形成和斑點溶解成條紋之間中斷燒製，故成品尚難，尤為珍罕。
本盌器形端莊大方，加上傳世建窰大盞侈寥若晨星，尤引人注目。福建省建陽縣蘆花坪出土接近約980件茶盌，當中僅見三件尺寸較大盌例，平均尺寸達18.2公分，參考毛瑞，《Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers》，哈佛大學美術館，劍橋，1995年，頁207，編號79。另可參考一油滴天目例，現存華盛頓史密森學會弗雷爾美術館，館藏編號 F1909.369。
FOREWORD
The Daikomyo-ji Temple was originally built in Fushimi-ku in southern Kyoto city. It served as the family temple of the Fushimi-no-Miya Family since the burial of Prince Yoshihito (1351-1416), the first generation of the oldest branch of the Japanese Imperial Family. Since its construction, the Temple has been repeatedly destroyed by fire and wars, and preserved with the help of generous patrons such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-98) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616).
The Temple was unfortunately abandoned entirely in 1868 due to the anti-Buddhist movement during the Meiji Revolution. Its operations resumed five years later at the Shinge-in Temple, which is located in the centre of Kyoto city and was later integrated into the present-day Daikomyo-ji Temple. The Daikomyo-ji Temple is revered and well respected for its long history, and its successive abbots have devoted themselves to missionary work, salvation and enlightenment of sentient beings (Shujo Saido), and the propagation of Buddhist culture.
As the current abbot of the Temple, it is my obligation to ensure the history and legacy of the Temple is passed down to future generations. Therefore, it is of great urgency to construct a new residence hall (Kuri), as the existing building has survived for more than two hundred years since its construction, rendering its aged structure to become fragile and vulnerable to earthquakes of level four intensity.
The new building will serve as a peaceful and safe place for devotees and worshippers. In order to raise essential funds for the construction of the Kuri, selected artworks and tea ceremony utensils that were dutifully and carefully stored in the Temple are offered at this auction. We humbly request connoisseurs and discerning collectors to understand the purpose of this auction, and we sincerely ask for your faithful support for our cause.
September 2023
Eighteenth Abbot of The Daikomyo-ji Temple
Kendo Yano
ABOUT THE DAIKOMYO-JI TEMPLE
Commissioned by the Empress of the 93rd Emperor Go-Fushimi (1288-1336) as a memorial to the Emperor, the Daikomyo-ji Temple was built in 1339 and named after the Empress' Buddhist name, with Muso Kokushi (1275-1351) as the founder. The image of the Fugen Bodhisattva of the Northern and Southern Courts period is enshrined as the principal image.
The Temple belongs to the Shokoku-ji Temple, which is the head temple of the Shokoku-ji School of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, founded by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), the third shogun of the Muromachi Period. The Shokoku-ji namesake originated from the Daishokoku-ji Temple in China, located in the Kaifeng City of Henan Province. In 1992, the Daishokoku-ji Temple in China and the Shokoku-ji Temple in Japan established the first-ever cross-border friendship temple agreement.
Many exceptional tea utensils, pottery and paintings are preserved at the Daikomyo-ji Temple; among them is the Arhat on Silk, which is formally recognised as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, and the calligraphy of Zen monks from the Muromachi period of Japan and the Southern Song dynasty of China. In addition, the Jotenkaku Museum in the Shokoku-ji Temple houses Buddhist artwork handed down from the Shokoku-ji Temple, as well as temple treasures from the Kinkaku Rokuon-ji Temple and the Ginkaku Jisho-ji Temple, which are situated outside the Shokoku-ji Temple.
