Page 37 - Lunyushanren Col II

Fig. 3 The present tea bowl with a selection of accessories. The Linyushanren Collection, Part II
圖三 本件建窯「油滴天目」茶盌及部分附屬品 。

The current Jian ware tea bowl has a most illustrious history – belonging to the Kuroda Family
Collection and the Ataka Collection before entering the Linyushanren Collection.

The Kuroda clan originated in Harima Province 播磨国, and served frst the Ota and then the
Toyotomi clans. For his service as a strategist, Kuroda Yoshitaka (黒田孝高 1546-1604) was granted
the lordship of Nakatsu Castle 中津 in 1587. The Kuroda Clan’s involvement with the tea ceremony
can be traced back to Kuroda Yoshitaka, who was also known as Kuroda Josui 黒田如水, after he
renounced his Christian affliations and name on the orders of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉 1536-
98) in 1587. Not only was Kuroda Yoshitaka the chief strategist to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he also
became a friend of the famous tea master Sen no Rikyū (千利休 1522-1591), and wrote a treatise on
the principles of tea. The current ‘oil spot’ Jian tea bowl has been handed down through the Kuroda
family and contemporary documentation goes back to Marquis Kuroda Nagashige (黒田長成 1867-
1939), who was the frst son of Kuroda Nagatomo (黒田長知 1835-1902). In 1878 Kuroda Nagashige
succeeded as head of the family, and in 1884 he became a kōshaku (侯爵 marquis) and in the same
year went to Britain to study at Cambridge University. After his return home in 1889, he became an
offcer of the Imperial Household Ministry, but resigned in 1890. In 1892 he entered the Kizoku-in
(貴族院 House of Peers), becoming its vice-chairman in 1894 – a position he held for many years.
In 1924 he was appointed to the Sūmitsu-in (枢密院 Privy Council). Marquis Kuroda Nagashige was
also a noted calligrapher, with an interest in both Chinese and Japanese poetry. The current ‘oil spot’
Jian ware bowl was inherited by his son Marquis Kuroda Nagamichi (黒田長礼 1889-1978), a well-
known ornithologist. This tea bowl had been registered in Japan as an Important Art Object on 18
December 1935, and the List of Important Art Objects published by the Japanese Ministry of Culture
in 1943, notes that, at that time, the bowl belonged to the 14th head of the Kuroda clan, Marquis
Kuroda Nagamichi. By the mid-1970s the tea bowl had entered the famous Ataka Collection 安宅コ
レクション, and was published on a number of occasions. In 2015 it was deregistered at the request
of the current owner.
This rare bowl with its illustrious history and remarkable accoutrements is an important part of the
history of Chinese Song dynasty ceramics and the development of tea drinking in China, as well as the
history of ceramic appreciation and the tea ceremony in Japan. It is also a vessel of consummate beauty.

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