Title
Teabowl (chawan)
19th century
Artist
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Details
- Date
- 19th century
- Media category
- Ceramic
- Materials used
- stoneware with underglaze blue and black pigment on white slip
- Dimensions
- 9.0 x 12.5 cm
- Credit
- Roger Pietri Fund 2005
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 350.2005
- Copyright
- Artist information
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possibly Issō or Kuroda Kōryō (1823-1895)
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
This tea bowl (chawan) has at times been attributed to the Japanese Buddhist nun Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) but was more likely created by one of her assistants, possibly Isso or Kuroda Koryo (1823-1895). The hand-built bowl features young pines and a poem by Rengetsu:
This being New Year’s Day
to the fields my heart
is drawn –
may there be
young pines to be pulled(trans. Sayumi Takahashi)
Following a life of tragedy, Rengetsu became a nun at Chion'in, the head temple of Pure Land Buddhim in Kyoto. There she took the name Rengetsu which means 'lotus moon'. In order to support herself, in her late forties or early fifties Rengetsu took up making tea ceramics and soon became renowned for her pottery and painting which she often inscribed with the poems she wrote. Her work was extremely popular and much imitated.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Black Robe, White Mist Otagaki Rengetsu, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 08 Sep 2007–27 Jan 2008
Homage to Rengetsu: Kevin Lincoln and Asian ceramics (2010), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 27 Oct 2010–14 Feb 2011
Conversations through the Asian collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 Oct 2014–13 Mar 2016
Beyond Words: Calligraphic Traditions of Asia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 27 Aug 2016–30 Apr 2017
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Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
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Melanie Eastburn, Lucie Folan and Robin Maxwell, Black robe white mist: art of the Japanese Buddhist nun Rengetsu, Australia, 2007, 92 (colour illus.). cat.no. 112
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