Page 273 - CHRISTIE'S Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art 09/14 - 15 / 17

Japanese black-lacquered wood box and silk shifuku
pouch, accompanying the bowl.
These Jian ware bowls were not only admired by the Chinese elite. Japanese
Zen (禅) Buddhist monks encountered Jian ware bowls during the Song
dynasty when they visited 禪 Chan Buddhist monasteries in the beautiful
Tianmu mountain (天目山) area of Lin’an (臨安) county, west of Hangzhou in
Zhejiang province, known for the two lakes which give it its name Tianmu (天
目) ‘eyes of heaven’, and for its magnifcent cedar trees and waterfalls. This
area was just north of the kilns producing Jian ware bowls, which were used
by the monks in the monasteries of the Tianmushan area for drinking tea.
The Japanese monks took examples of these bowls back to Japan, where the
bowls became highly prized by Japanese tea masters, and made a signifcant
contribution to the development of styles within the Japanese tea ceremony,
as well as providing inspiration for Japanese potters. Such tea bowls have
continued to be prized by Japanese connoisseurs and cherished in Japanese
Zen monasteries. Prior to entering a private Japanese collection, the current
bowl was in the possession of a Japanese Buddhist temple in Eastern Japan.
In addition to its black-lacquered box, dating to the Meiji (明治時代 1868-
1912 or Taisho (大正時代 1912-1926) period, the bowl has an important Ming
dynasty silk draw-string pouch, made of the type of textile known in Japan as
ko-watari (古渡り), indicating that it was imported into Japan before the Edo
period (1603 – 1868). Such pouches, known as shifuku (仕覆), were made
in Japan for tea containers and particularly precious tea bowls used in the
tea ceremony. The famous tea masters chose to use meibutsugire (名物裂)
‘celebrated textiles’ for these pouches, and often the items came to be known
by the name of the place or famous person with whom they were associated.
These meibutsugire were also used for the fukusa (袱紗) small cloth wrappers
used in the tea ceremony, and for mounting hanging scrolls. Among the most
valued textiles were those imported from China in the period from the 14th
to the 18th century. These textiles entered Japan either as kasaya (Buddhist
clerical robes) brought back by monks returning to Japan from China, or as part
of Sino-Japanese trade. As time went on, even the smallest fragment of these
historical Chinese textiles was treasured and might be used, for example, to
embellish the robe of an important person from the military class. The most
prized of all the Chinese textiles used for shifuku were those known as– kinran
(金襴), ‘gold robe’ in Japanese, but more often referred to in Chinese as jinjin ( Thus, not only the current bowl itself, but also the silk pouch in which it has
金錦) ‘gold brocade’. This was often a lampas weave in silk and metallic thread,
which had a gold (or silver) design, usually produced by incorporating gold
applied to fne strips of paper. It is this kinran/jinjin which appears to have
been used to make the pouch for the current tea bowl. The silk was probably
woven in the Jiangnan region of southern China in the latter years of the Ming
dynasty. This coincided with the period when the famous Japanese tea master
Kobori Enshu (小堀遠州 1579-1647) became fascinated with imported textiles
and introduced them into the tea ceremony. (In 2014 the Kyoto National
Museum (京都国立博物館) held an exhibition entitled: Luxurious Imported
Textiles: Buddhist Robes and Meibutsugire (袈裟と名物裂 ―舶載された染織),
which examined this important subject.) A kinran/jinjin of very similar design
to the textile used for the current pouch is illustrated by the tea master Kobori
Sokei (小堀宗慶1923-2011) in Monryo Meibutsugire kagami Kinginran (文竜 名
物裂鑑 金銀襴), Fujokai Shuppansha (婦女界出版社), Tokyo, 1986, p. 25, no. 16.
This design, and the one on the silk pouch accompanying the current bowl,
resemble a pattern known in Japan as Honganji Kinran (本願寺金襴) – so-called
because it was introduced to the Nishi-Honganji temple (西本願寺) in Kyoto,
which was founded in 1321, and became associated with that Temple in Japan.
However, the pattern also became popular with wealthy merchants and tea
masters in the late 16th century.
Kinran/jinjin textiles woven in China during the 16th and early 17th century
were often decorated with scrolling foral designs – most frequently either
peonies, lotus or mixed foral scrolls. The fowers woven into the silk of the
pouch belonging to this bowl appear to be peonies, which lend themselves
particularly well to designs created using this weaving technique. It is
interesting to note that the 16th century Japanese admiration for this type
of gold foral scrolling design was refected in some Jiajing porcelains which
found particular favour in Japan. These porcelains have become known by
the Japanese name kinrande (金襴 手). They are primarily bowls or vases
decorated on the exterior with either monochrome colours or with polychrome
designs. The salient feature of these kinrande wares is that they have gold
decoration applied to the surface. The gold was put in place, and then details
were scratched through the gold. This decoration resembles the woven gold
designs of the kinran/jinjin silks – although in the case of the porcelains, the
fowers on the scrolls are almost invariably lotus. On the polychrome examples
the gold is often restricted to the red areas of the design. The majority of the
monochrome bowls in the group are red, green or blue, although rare examples
of white bowls are known, such as those in the Percival David Collection,
illustrated by Rosemary Scott in Imperial Taste – Chinese Ceramics from the
Percival David Foundation, Los Angeles/San Francisco, 1989, p. 67, no. 37.
been kept, forms an important part of ceramic history.
In contrast to the opulence of the silk pouch, the tea bowl exudes a quiet
magnifcence, and it is easy to imagine an 11th century monk, seated in
preparation for meditation, holding this precious tea bowl, gazing into the
shimmering darkness of its glaze, and relinquishing worldly cares.
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