JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART 23 march 2022

PROPERTY OF VARIOUS OWNERS
760
A KOREAN TEA BOWL OF GOHON TYPE
Joseon dynasty (1392-1897), 17th/18th century
Of stoneware covered with biwa loquat-colored glaze with cream-colored
highlights typical of Korean wares made for export to the Japanese market, the
bowl thinly potted with shallow horizontal striations encircling the exterior, the
foot ring unglazed with chatter marks to the interior; with wood storage box
having calligraphy on lid stating Gohonde Chawan and label on reverse of lid
certifying that the calligraphy was written by Matsudaira Ise no Kami Tada[]
5 1/2 x 5 3/4 x 2 3/8 (14 x 14.7 x 6.1cm)
$2,000 - 3,000
760
Japanese tea masters continued to place orders for tea bowls to be made at
Korean government-sponsored kilns near Pusan, even after Korean potters had
established domestic workshops in Japan. These commissioned bowls were
fabricated according to sketches or wooden models (gohon). Called “Gohon”
bowls, they retained the styles of various sixteenth-century Korean types that
were well-represented at Japanese tea ceremonies, yet at the same time also
reflected the contemporary preference for thin, well-finished wares.
761
A BLACK MINO WARE CHAWAN (TEA BOWL)
Edo period (1615-1868), 18th/19th century
Of stoneware in a hanzutsu shape with thick lip and Setoguro type black
crawling glaze covering the entire vessel with the exception of the foot;
encircling the hip is a ring carved by a potter’s tool
With a lacquered wood storage box and a crepe gomotsubukuro storage bag
4 3/4 x 3 1/2in (11.9 x 8.6cm)
$2,500 - 3,500
(box lid)
762
A STONEWARE CHAWAN (TEA BOWL) WITH KINTSUGI
(GOLD-LACQUER) REPAIRS
Edo period (1615-1868), 18th century
The Karatsu ware bowl of kutsugata (shoe-shaped) form set on a ring foot
decorated in a greenish gray glaze, the broken shards mended with gold
lacquer
With a wood tomobako storage box
5 5/8in (14.3cm) diameter, at widest
$1,200 - 1,800
761
762
The term used to describe the technique utilized in the above lot, as well as
the subsequent three, kintsugi (literally «patched with gold»), does not tell the
whole story of how these vessels were restored to functionality and greater
beauty. Although gold dust is indeed mixed into the surface of the outer-facing
layers, the core of the repair is secured with urushi, treated, dyed and dried sap
of Toxicodendron vernicifluum or related trees, applied in several coats, and
typically mixed with rice glue or flour glue. The gold powder, applied in the final
stage of the repair process, is not necessary to successfully make the vessel
watertight, and there are examples of pottery simply showing the seams of the
repair in lacquer that has been colored black or red. However, the kintsugi finish
has become the most well-known due to the influence of chanoyu, the
“tea ceremony,” on the Japanese aesthetic sense. Many stories exist that
showcase how tea aficionados, as far back as the seventeenth century, came
to appreciate a vessel repaired with gold lacquer after intentional or accidental
breakage, when the vessel in its original form had not inspired any significant
aesthetic response.
When contemplating a vessel repaired with kintsugi, several aesthetic
considerations come into play. The first is the recognition that many ceramics,
especially those used in chanoyu, often have a lineage of owners, or a
distinguished provenance, and the act of repair allows that act of passing
down the object to continue past the generation when the damage occurred.
Another is that a given vessel, having been handmade, can never be perfectly
reproduced or replaced, and so repair is preferable to losing the object
completely. A third, and perhaps the most difficult to describe in words, are the
Japanese concepts of wabi and sabi, the former an appreciation of poverty, an
undemanding nature, and imperfection, and the latter a recognition that things
change over time, often in the direction of altered patina or decay.
134 | BONHAMS