Mino Ware Oribe Matcha Bowl (Chawan) — Green Glaze, Iron-Painted Motifs, Wooden Box

This Mino ware matcha bowl is decorated in the Oribe style (Oribe-yaki). The style is named after the tea master Furuta Oribe (1544–1615), a student of Sen no Rikyū, whose bold and playful taste shaped the Mino kilns of Gifu Prefecture in the Momoyama period. The bowl follows the classic Oribe composition: rich copper-green glaze poured over part of the bowl, set against a creamy white crackled ground painted freely in iron-brown. The green is applied in two opposing sections that run over the rim and into the interior, darkening where it pools in the throwing ridges.

The iron painting (tetsu-e) shows a circle filled with a dotted lattice, a geometric motif typical of Oribe, set among bold sweeping grass or leaf strokes. Below it, curling fern-like sprigs and zigzag lines evoke flowing water or trailing vines. The quick, calligraphic brushwork is a hallmark of Oribe painting, which favoured spontaneity over precision. The rim is edged in iron-brown (kuchi-beni) to frame the whole design.

The shape reflects the Oribe taste for deliberate irregularity. The walls rise almost straight in a half-cylinder (hanzutsu) form, with a slightly uneven, softly squared rim. Diagonal spatula cuts (hera-me) run across the body, and throwing rings are left visible around the wall. The underside is glazed with a fine allover crackle down to a neatly trimmed foot ring, and an impressed potter's seal (kama-in) sits beside the foot.

The bowl comes in its wooden storage box (tomobako) with a cloth wrapping.

Details:

• Origin: Japan, Mino ware (Mino-yaki, Gifu Prefecture), Oribe style. Stamped with an impressed potter's seal (see photos).

• Form: Half-cylinder (hanzutsu) chawan with straight walls, a softly irregular rim, diagonal spatula cuts, visible throwing rings and a trimmed foot ring

• Glaze: Copper-green Oribe glaze in two opposing sections over the rim, with a creamy white crackled glaze elsewhere

• Decoration: Hand-painted iron-brown motifs, including a lattice-and-dot circle, sweeping grasses, fern-like sprigs and flowing lines; iron-brown rim (kuchi-beni)

• Base: Glazed underside with fine crackle, pale foot ring, impressed seal

• Condition: Good secondhand condition. The crackle and variations in glaze thickness are natural features of the firing. Please see photos for detail.

• Packaging: Wooden storage box (tomobako) with cloth wrapping

• Dimensions: (Ø) approx. 11.5 cm x (H) approx. 7.5 cm