Page 455 - Catalogue of the Edward Morse collection of Japanese pottery MFA BOSTON

PROVINCE OF MUSASHI 303
KWAISUIYEN (Case 35)

In 1830 a small oven was erected in a garden in Yedo belonging to a noble from
Kiyosu, Owari, and a potter from Kiyosu, named Fujishiro Kawamoto, was invited to
take charge of it. With the aid of a number of assistants, pottery, consisting of tea-
utensils, flower-pots, etc., was made. That the work had little merit may be inferred
from the fact that very few examples of it have survived. Indeed, the single specimen
in the collection is the only one I have ever seen. The work ceased in 1861.
4125. Irregular-shaped vessel, for washing brushes. D. 3^ in. Modeled
by hand. Fine soft white clay ; outside, stained brown ; deep olive-green glaze
inside. Base gilded. Kwaisuiyen set (imp.). 1840
Exceedingly rare. 4125

TAMAGAWA (Case 35 and Plate XXV. 4126)
An obscurity which I have never been able to clear up covers the origin of this
interesting pottery. Ninagawa identified certain of the pieces in the collection as
Seto, Owari ; others supposed the pottery to be Kyoto. The pieces are refined in
character, and reveal the work of a potter who loved the quiet and simple tastes of the
tea-cult. The pottery was made near Yedo, in the hamlet of Yaguchi, on the Tama-
gawa, and dates back fifty or sixty years.
4126. Tea-bowl. D. 4J in. Coarse gray-drab clay, olive-gray glaze. River embank-
ment protection in dark brown.
Brush-marks in white. Hitotsu
yaki and Tama (imp.). 1850
4127. Tea -BOWL. D. 4} in.
Coarse gray-drab clay, olive-gray
glaze, white brush-marks inside.
Tantagawa yaki and kakihan
written in brown outside. 1850
4128. Incense-box. D. 1} in.
Very light gray-drab clay, white
glaze. Rice-mortar and pestle in
4126 4127
dark brown and light gray on
cover. Inside, transparent glaze. Tama (imp.). 1850
4129. Incense-box (bird). L. 2\^ in. Coarse gray-drab clay, thick black Raku glaze.
Tama (imp.). 1850
4130. Incense-burner, modeled in form of mythological lion, H. 7i in. Gray-
drab clay, yellowish underglaze, light red Raku overglaze.
Tama and Tamagawa-shisui (imp.). 1850
4130
KICHIROKU (Case 35)
Ninagawa records in his notes that a potter named Ida Kichiroku came to Yedo
from Shimosa in i860 and opened a bric-a-brac shop in Asakusa. Here he built an