Page 101 - Catalogue of the Edward Morse collection of Japanese pottery MFA BOSTON

PROVINCE OF SETTSU 63

57I« Bowl. D. 5 in. Light fawn clay, cream-white underglaze, thick grayish-white over-
glaze coarsely crackled. Rice-bag outline deeply incised. Kosobe (imp.). 1830 8
THIRD GENERATION O

572. Bowl. D. 4J in. Fine fawn clay, opaque underglaze, dull fawn overglaze. :fin
Overglaze decoration of fish in red, outlined in deeper red with plant in green and •^
blue. Basal ring notched. Kosobe (imp.). 1850 5^'
573- Deep bowl. D. 4J in. Yellowish-fawn clay and glaze, with bands of squares about
rim, cloud and crane in white and dark brown Mishima. Basal ring with
three notches. Kosobe (imp.). 1850
574- Bowl. D. \\ in. Fawn clay, thick bluish-white glaze with rosy areas
strongly crackled. Naniwa flower in light blue. Kosobe (imp.). 1850
575~5^^' Bowls, wine-bottle, stand, tea-cups, etc. 1850
FOURTH GENERATION (Plate III. 582)

581. Deep bowl. Sides flattened. D. 4J in. Light fawn clay, thin gray underglaze,
thick white overglaze coarsely crackled. Fish, leaves, etc., in olive-brown, with lines scratched
through on white. Inscription inside. Kosobe (imp.). 1870
Type Ninagawa. Vol. III., Fig. 20,
582. Large bowl. D. s| in. Brownish-fawn clay, opaque white underglaze, thick white
overglaze punctured. Crabs and inscription vigor-
^^
ously drawn in brownish-green. Signed Tainen. jjty ^^ "A" ^^ wi
Kosobe (^m^:). 1870 "^gr -f^ '^' -^ <&
Mate to Ninagawa's type. Vol. VI., Fig. 25. ^R ?p ^ i^ JW
583-592- Tea-cups, tea-pot, wine-bottles, etc. ^g^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^^^
All signed Kosobe. 1870
The work of the fourth generation is fresh and artistic.
KIKKO (Case 6 and Plate IIL 593)
The family of potters using the marks Kikko and /jlsan ken has evidently puzzled
the Japanese experts, probably for the reason that the classical collectors and tea-
lovers did not consider the pottery of sufficient merit to be recorded ; in which opinion
they were justified. Nevertheless, I have been able to get from various sources a
number of memoranda about the family, and they all differ. I found among Nina-
gawa's papers, for example, three different records of the family : one making three
generations, another six, and another thirteen. Diligent inquiries fail to show that
Kikko ever baked in lyo, yet the records state that he had an oven there for a time.
None of the accounts mention the fact that he was ever in Suo, and yet his Su5 work
is the most vigorous and artistic of all his efforts. With this conflicting material it
may be stated that in the early part of the century a potter by the name of Jihei
Toda, a native of lyo, started an oven in Jusan, Osaka. Here was first used, in 1819,
the mark Kikko ; how long he remained in Osaka is not known. Somewhere between
1 83 1 and 1834 he had an oven in Iwakuni, Suo, and made hard yellow Nankin with
incised decoration, and also Raku pottery, in which he used the impressed marks