Japanese Ceramics: Raku Tea bowl, known as "Summer Festival Music." View from side, showing profile of the piece.

Japanese Ceramics: Raku Tea bowl, known as "Summer Festival Music." View from side, showing profile of the piece.

Arts-Aesthetics; Arts-Ceramics;

Pottery, Japanese; tea ceremony, Japanese; Cha-no-yu

Raku ware tea bowl ("Chawan") named "Summer Festival Music." The bowl is attributed to Raku Sonyu (1664-1716), the fifth generation of the Kyoto Raku family of potters. A study in understatement, note the gentle undulation of the rim of the bowl and the slight convexity of the contour of the side of the bowl, almost inviting one's hand to fit it. The surface of the piece is typical of the black raku glaze, with a soft, slightly lustrous quality and a slightly pitted surface, giving it a highly tactile quality and one that almost resembles that of a river-worn rock, calling to mind the stricture that a good ceramic piece should be like an object found in nature, rather than an object deliberately made.

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, CA

Research the origin of "Raku" ware in Japan and its relationship to Tea Ceremony. Then, research the "raku" process as it was adapted and employed by American potters in the post-WWII period. In what ways were the two directions of "raku" different and in what ways do those differences speak of the cultures that produced them.

Editorial assistant: Joseph Augustin; Collection Librarian: Amy Bryant. Please send any questions, comments, or content corrections to Michael Thiedeman, Professor of Art, Earlham College, Richmond, IN 47374-4095 USA. email address: thiedmi@earlham.edu

attributed to Raku Sonyu

Thiedeman, Michael

Earlham College

Materials may be used for educational, non-commercial purposes only, in accordance with Fair Use policies. Acknowledgement to be given to the IDEAS Project and to Earlham College and to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

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still image

ecasia000372

ecasia_a_000372

Japan

Japan - Edo-Tokugawa 1615 - 1868

late 17th c. ?

Kinki (region), Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto (inhabited place)

7004603

1298 w x 799 h, 150ppi