Page 333 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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painting traditions and lacquer. Small pine Kaga (part of present-day Ishikawa Prefec- unglazed bottom of the vessel is stamped
trees in gold and light green, and red ca- ture) also owned many pieces by Ninsei, with the large Ninsei seal.
mellia and plum blossoms outlined and de- some of which are recorded to have en- The colored decoration is a mixture
tailed in gold with light green leaves, tered their collection through the well- of natural motifs and geometric abstrac-
stretch into the characteristic rich Ninsei- connected Kyoto tea master and some- tions. A weave of silver diamond-shaped
guro (Ninsei black) background. Low, roll- time Maeda guest, Kanamori Sôwa (1584- lozenges, graded in size from the narrower
ing mountains, like those in Japan, loom 1656). Sowa's social influence and bottom to wider top, are filled with gold
behind in gold. The lower portion of the aesthetic guidance were of great impor- floral abstractions on a red ground. Four
vessel remains undercorated, revealing the tance to Ninsei, especially during the early windows are framed by the weave, each
clay body, and the bottom is marked with a part of the artist's career. opening onto a white ground and contain-
large seal that reads Ninsei. Like cat. 256, the mizusashi in the col- ing green-leafed peony buds and blooms in
Ninsei reaped the benefits of a tea lection of the Tokyo National Museum combinations of gold and red, and red and
world support system that linked him with (cat. 257) adapts the shape of a powdered silver. The technique employed for the
tea masters and members of the different tea container, in this case, a natsume, a flowers is that of yamato-e, especially that
social classes, including court, wealthy type usually made of black lacquer. Two seen in the floral forms painted by the art-
merchant, and daimyo clients. Cat. 256 other slightly larger mizusashi in this ists of Sotatsu's studio. Gold is used for
was owned by the Kyógoku family, daimyo shape are known, though this example is the earth and clouds, and to delineate the
of the Marugame domain on Shikoku the most minutely and painstakingly exe- juncture of the vertical wall with the top.
from 1658 throughout the Edo period, one cuted. The walls are thin, elegantly curv- The top is decorated with a billowing wave
of many works by Ninsei in their posses- ing up toward the flattened top that is pattern in silver on a red ground. Subse-
sion. The wealthy Maeda daimyo of stepped down at the mouth to form a quent oxidation has blackened the silver.
ledge upon which the lid would rest. The

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