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Oribe-Type Ewer

Greenish brown ceramic kettle with floral and geometric designs.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Greenish brown ceramic kettle with floral and geometric designs.

Date:

early 17th century

Artist:

Japan

About this artwork

Furuta Oribe (1544–1615) was a military general–turned–tea aesthete whose style of presentation at tea gatherings catered to the samurai class and rulers of seventeenth-century Japan. In contrast to his predecessors, Oribe preferred tea wares that were bold and eccentric rather than subtle and rustic. He was the first to recognize the beauty of artfully misshapen ceramics for use in tea gatherings. Ewers such as this were employed as water containers during the meal that preceded the tea service. Their distinctive glaze contains copper, which turned green in the firing process. This glaze, along with slightly off-kilter or distorted shapes, became trademarks of Oribe ware produced in the Mino region (now Gifu Prefecture) of Japan.

This vessel features drawings of plum blossoms, wheels, a hexagonal tortoiseshell pattern, and a lattice, all done in an underglaze iron wash. This is typical of such wares, which most often do not have a single decorative theme, but rather depict a mélange of almost abstract motifs akin to the popular patterning on textiles of the period.

Status

On View, Gallery 106

Department

Arts of Asia

Title

Oribe-Type Ewer

Place

Japan (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1601–1625

Medium

Glazed stoneware

Dimensions

26.7 × 21.6 cm (10 1/2 × 8 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Robert Allerton

Reference Number

1959.5

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/9512/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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