Kuro-Ninsei Chawan — Grapevine Motif, Kyoto Ware, Wooden Box

This Japanese matcha tea bowl (chawan) is made in the Kuro-Ninsei style: a deep, glossy black glaze used as a ground for bright enamel painting. Two broad grape leaves in amber shading to burnt brown frame a hanging cluster of green grapes, while fine tendrils curl around the body in gold-toned line. Throwing rings remain visible beneath the leaves, so the painting follows the movement of the wheel.

The style looks back to Nonomura Ninsei, the 17th-century Kyoto potter who worked at the Omuro kiln near Ninna-ji temple and is credited with establishing the refined overglaze enamel (iro-e) painting of Kyoto ware. "Ninsei-style" pieces by later Kyoto potters reinterpret his elegant, painterly decoration; the black-ground version sets the colours off with particular contrast.

Grapes have appeared in Japanese decoration since the Nara period, when grape-patterned mirrors and textiles arrived via the Silk Road, and they are read as a sign of abundance. In tea practice they are an autumn subject, making this a seasonal bowl for September to November.

The form is a half-cylinder (hantsutsu) shape with gently rounded walls and a slightly inturned rim. The neatly trimmed foot shows a fine cream clay with a spiral at its centre, and an impressed potter's seal sits beside it.

Details:

• Origin: Japan, Kyoto ware (Kyō-yaki), Kuro-Ninsei style; seal not yet identified

• Form: Hantsutsu (half-cylinder) chawan, slightly inturned rim

• Glaze: Glossy black ground with amber, brown and green enamel decoration; gold-toned tendrils

• Decoration: Grapevine with autumn leaves and fruit cluster

• Base: Unglazed cream clay footring with spiral, impressed seal

• Box: Wooden box

• Condition: Good secondhand condition; small mark on the rim — please see photos

• Dimensions: (Diam.) approx. 12cm x (H) approx. 7.8cm