Hakeme Katakuchi Matcha Bowl — Brushed White Slip, Spiral Swirl, Pouring Lip

This spouted tea bowl (katakuchi) is decorated in the hakeme (刷毛目, "brush-mark") technique: white slip swept over dark red-brown clay with a coarse brush, then covered in a clear glaze with a fine crackle. Inside, the brushwork follows the throwing rings in a tight spiral that draws the eye down to the well, where a patch of bare iron-brown clay curls into the centre like a comma or a wave. Outside, the strokes run on a diagonal, so the white and brown seem to turn around the bowl. The rim is left in rich brown, framing the pale interior.

Hakeme comes from Korean buncheong ware of the Joseon dynasty (15th–16th century), and Japanese tea masters admired it for the sense of movement in a single brushstroke. Each piece is unrepeatable, since the pattern depends on the speed and pressure of the potter's hand.

The katakuchi (片口, "one-sided mouth") form has a single pouring lip pulled from the rim. Originally a vessel for pouring sake or sauces, it makes a practical matcha bowl: you can whisk tea in it and pour it neatly into cups, which suits sharing matcha or preparing iced matcha and lattes.

The form is wide and gently flaring, set on a sturdy trimmed foot in dark red-brown clay, with a small incised mark inside the foot ring.

Details:

• Origin: Japan; kiln/artist unconfirmed

• Form: Katakuchi (spouted) matcha bowl, wide flaring body, single pouring lip

• Glaze: Hakeme brushed white slip over iron-rich clay, clear glaze with fine crackle; brown rim

• Decoration: Spiral brushwork inside with a swirl of bare clay in the well; diagonal strokes outside

• Foot: Trimmed foot in dark red-brown clay, small incised mark

• Condition: Good secondhand condition — please see photos for any marks

• Dimensions: (Diam.) approx. 13cm (excluding spout) x (H) approx. 7cm