Onta Ware (小鹿田焼) Bowl — Tobikanna Combed Slip, Ame-Glaze with Cobalt Drips

A hand-thrown bowl in the Onta-yaki tradition, its irregular, softly petalled rim glazed in a soft jade-green tone that gives way to warm ame (amber-brown) glaze on the exterior. The interior showcases the classic Onta tobikanna (jumping-blade/chatter) technique — a radiating, comb-like pattern of small chattered marks spiraling out from the centre, created by a metal tool bouncing rhythmically across the slip-coated surface as the piece turns on the wheel. Streaks of cobalt-blue glaze pool and run through the pattern, characteristic of Onta's use of local glazes in combination with this carved surface treatment. The exterior is a rich, streaked ame-brown with cobalt drips bleeding down from the rim, and the recessed foot is neatly turned with the same brown glaze pooling at its edge, showing the pale stoneware body beneath.

Details:

• Origin: Onta ware (Onta-yaki), Ōita Prefecture, Japan — a folk-craft (mingei) pottery tradition

• Form: Shallow bowl with irregular, scalloped rim, short footring

• Decoration: Tobikanna chatter-carved combed pattern radiating from centre, glazed jade-green interior rim

• Glaze: Ame (amber-brown) exterior glaze with running cobalt-blue drips; jade-green interior rim glaze

• Base: Recessed unglazed footring, pale stoneware body

• Condition: No visible chips; glaze pooling and texture are characteristic of the technique, not damage

• Dimensions (approx.): diameter ~11.8cm, height ~4.5cm