145. KATŌ Bakutai, 1861–1943, Seto-ware teabowl

145. KATŌ Bakutai  加藤麦袋,1861–1943, Seto-ware teabowl, with picture of horse and characters hatsugama 初窯, Shino glaze

Katō Bakutai was a prominent potter who initially worked under Katō Shuntai (1802-77). He was partially responsible for the revival of Seto-ware techniques in the nineteenth century. He worked with a variety of traditional pottery styles including Shino, Tenmoku, and Mishima.

Light brown clay, Shino glaze in pink and white, with characters and decoration in black; foot ring and surrounding area left unglazed. Weight: 238 g (8.5 oz). Rim and maximum diameter: 12.8 cm (5-1/16 in); foot ring diameter: 4.6 cm (1-13/16 in). Height: 6.3 cm (2-1/2 in).

This sits on the base of the foot ring, which is 0.6 cm (1/4 in) high on the outside. The interior of the foot ring has been excavated out to slightly less than this height. The exterior walls extend outward at a slight upward angle (5­–10-degree slope) for 1 cm (3/8 in); The artist’s mark, a small oval with the incised characters for “Bakutai” 麦袋, was pressed into this area.  The walls then rise up and outward in a shallow convex curve to just about 1.3 cm (1/2 in) below the rim. Above this a concave groove encircles the bowl just below the rim. The lip of the rim has been forced outward slightly. The surface of the glazed portion of this is dotted with small pits, giving it a slightly rough texture.

The bowl was glazed in Shino. The interior and the central band of the exterior have a slight pinkish blush from the wood-firing. The exterior decoration was applied with a calligraphy brush. The characters, 初窯, indicate that the bowl was produced in the potter’s first firing of the year. A compound with the same pronunciation but with a different second character is used for the first tea ceremony of the year; so the characters may be doing double duty here. Since the horse is one of the animals in the Asian zodiacal cycle, I’m guessing this may have been made during a horse year. Given the artist’s life dates, the possibilities are 1894, 1906, 1918, 1930, and 1942.

The brushwork on the horse is impressively economical and resulted in a sprightly figure. The bowl is slightly smaller than most “summer” teabowls. The color range and placement show good control of the kiln during firing.

Purchased in August 2021 from Treasures of Old Times in Bangkok.