A very rare group of 29 'tenmoku' tea bowls, Southern Song dynasty and later | 南宋及以後　天目茶盌一組二十九件

Passed down in Japan since medieval times, and thereafter in the collection of the Daikomyo-ji temple.

自中世紀於日本傳世，後入藏於京都大光明寺

All 29 tenmoku bowls from this group have been used by Buddhist monks for ritual tea drinking and passed down from hand to hand for centuries in the Daikomyo-ji temple. 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 universal referral of Jian black-glazed tea bowls as tenmoku is a lasting testimony of Japanese collectors’ and tea masters’ appreciation of black-glazed tea bowls from Fujian since the travelling Buddhist monks began bringing them back to Japan from China in the 12th - 13th centuries. The current 29 bowls, having been ritually used and passed down for centuries, are tangible testimonies to this remarkable reverence, as well as the genesis of the connoisseurship of Song dynasty black-glazed bowls produced at the Jianyang kilns in Fujian.

Tea bowls from the Jianyang kilns were supplied annually as tribute to the court, and some were inscribed on the base with inscriptions reading gongyu (‘for imperial use’) or jinzhan (‘bowl for presentation’), as seen on seven bowls in the current group. As these would have been inscribed before the firing, such bowls would have been planned for presentation to the court before the unpredictable outcome of the glaze even became apparent.

Celebrated for their unique suitability for tea drinking as the fine foam of the whisked powdered tea contrasted attractively against the dark glaze, tenmoku bowls were especially appropriate for use in Buddhist temples. See a group set of tenmoku bowls in the Ryoko-in, a sub-temple of Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto, in which one of three extant Youhen tenmoku bowls is preserved, illustrated in Chugoku no toji: Tenmoku, Tokyo, 1999, p. 85, fig. 1.

The current group of bowls are preserved in a Japanese wood box bearing the inscription of Shinge-in Temple, which dates back to the 16th century and was later integrated into the present-day Daikomyo-ji Temple.

三盌底刻《供御》款 、四盌刻《進琖》款、一盌刻《士》款

此組天目茶盌均為僧侶品茗所用，藏於大光明寺數百年，今乃首次面世。日人尤重「伝世」傳統，即將愛物代代相傳，隨著時光流逝，物品價值水漲船高。

杭州天目山中寺僧以建盞飲茶，十二至十三世紀日本禪宗僧人至此，得建盞，甚為珍之，即攜其而歸，深受推崇，謂之「天目」。現存二十九件茶盞乃宋代閩北黑釉茶盌鑒賞之開端，經數百年時光洗禮，證歷代日人奉其為瑰寶。

建窰見器底署款「供御」或「進琖」者，即承御貢，本組七盌亦刻有如是署文。署文題於入窰燒製前，可知此類茶盞或為進貢朝廷特意定燒。

文人雅士時常詠頌建窰黑盞，謂之賞茶佳器。黑盞鬪茶，擊拂見白花，清晰可辨，易於觀色，尤適佛道中人所用。可參閱京都大德寺龍光院所藏一組天目茶盌，其中保有現存三件曜變天目茶盌之一，載於長谷部樂爾編, 《中國の陶瓷》，卷6： 天目，東京，1999年，頁85，圖1。

盌組存於亦日本木盒中，心華院碑文刻於其上。心華院可追溯到十六世紀，後來併入大光明寺。