10. Oribe sake-warming flask (tokkuri)

10. Oribe sake-warming flask (tokkuri) 

Coarse gray clay, glazed in cream, white, green, and brown colors; base left unglazed. Weight: 312 g (11 oz). Width of lip: 3.7--5.5 cm (1-3/8 - 2-1/8 in); base diameter: 6 cm (2-1/4 in); widest diameter: 7.7 cm (3 in). Height: 14.5 cm (5-3/4 in).

This sake-warming flask (Japanese: 徳利  tokkuri) is very typical of modern Oribe ware. It can be divided into four sections.  The topmost is a truncated cone roughly 2.5 cm (1 in) tall, flaring outward; the lip of the cone is an irregular circle, with a pouring spout formed on one side. Below this is a narrow neck about 1 cm (1/2 in) tall and 3.7 cm in diameter (1-3/8 in). Below this a shoulder, about 1 cm wide, slopes outward; at the lower end, this section is about 5 cm (2 in) in diameter. Rough, thickish, irregularly spaced vertical grooves have been incised in this section. Below this is the body of the flask; it is roughly pear-shaped, with the widest part being about 2.5 cm (1 in) above the base. The body has been pinched in at several places to form concave spots; the surface is very rough and irregular (oddly this makes it easier to lift and hold than smoother-side flasks such as item 9). Something like a metal comb was used to score the surface of the body with narrow vertical lines from the shoulders down to the widest point.

The body of the vessel was glazed in cream with curving designs added in brown using a brush. The green glaze was applied over this and allowed to ooze down the sides creating thick drips ("tears"), some of which cover the design elements. A thick blob of white glaze was splashed over one of the design elements (visible in the first photo).

Purchased at the Japan Trade Center in San Francisco in the late 1980s or early 1990s.