243. Bizen-ware "gold dust pouch" water container

243.  Bizen-ware water container for the tea ceremony 古備前耳付砂金袋水差  ko Bizen mimitsuki sakinbukoro mizusashi  (old[-style] Bizen-ware “gold dust pouch” water container, with ear lugs)

Roman Nikolaev, the seller, dates this to the 1950s. Here, the 古 in the inscription on the box refers not to the age of the piece but to the style of Bizen-ware. This imitates the older methods of making and firing Bizen-ware, which were revived in the twentieth century. Rather than a pottery lid (a 共蓋 tomo-buta) made of the same clay as the base, this has a black lacquered wooden lid (a 替蓋  kae-buta). 

Dark reddish brown clay, with natural-ash glazing on the exterior, with many patches of goma 胡麻, yellow sesame-seed-like deposits of ash, and some blackening of the exterior surface; the interior has no glazing. Weight: overall, 1680 g (3.75 lb); body, 1630 g (3.6 lb); lid, 50 g (1.8 oz). Height: 17.3 cm (6-7/8 in). Width: mouth, 9.8 cm (3-7/8 in); lip, 14.2 cm (5-5/8 in); narrowest, 10.3 cm (4-1/8 in); widest, 17.4 cm (6-7/8 in); base, 13.2 cm (5-1/4 in). 

This is shaped like a drawstring bag. It sits on the flat base, which is about 1 cm (3/8 in) thick. At one edge of the base, a small circle with an interior bar was incised into the clay; this may be a kiln mark. The surface of the base is lightly scored with lines, some of which continue up the sides of the piece. The walls extend upward in a convex arc, with the widest point occurring about 3.8 cm (1-1/2 in) above the base, extending to the narrowest width 10.7 cm (4-1/4 in) above the base. There is a pronounced groove encircling the pot at the narrowest width. Above this, the walls rise outward in a shallow arc to the lip. The body of the pot has horizontal striations at fairly regular intervals, perhaps remnants of finger marks if this was thrown on a wheel, or of the coils of clay if this was hand-shaped. The front of the pot has a large, irregular dent in the center, These striations are much more pronounced in the upper part of the body. Four deep vertical grooves were incised into the pot, two each on the front and the back, in the bottom section of the pot. There is another deep groove encircling the pot, at an irregular height above the base, just below the places where the bottoms of the ear lugs are attached. In contrast to most ears on Japanese pots, the widest points of the ears are at the lower end rather than the upper. The tops of the ears are 13.8 cm (5-1/2 in) and the bottoms 7.6 cm (3 in) above the base. The lid sits on a recessed gallery. The interior of the pot mirrors the shape of the exterior. The surface is relatively smooth. 

This was fired unglazed. All the surface colors and effects resulted from natural-ash glazing, ash deposits, and kiln effects. Most of the goma occur on the front of the piece. 

Like a drawstring pouch, this sags toward the base, a movement mirrored in the ear lugs, which also sag downward. “Gold dust” may be a nod to the golden goma spots. 

This came in a wooden box, inscribed in two lines, 古備前 / 耳付砂金袋水差  ko Bizen / mimitsuki  sakinbukoro mizusashi  (old[-style] Bizen-ware / “gold dust pouch” water container, with ear lugs). A paper strip pasted on the side of the box reads 備前焼 Bizenyaki  (Bizen-ware).

\Purchased from Treasures of Old Times, Perth, Australia in March 2024 (invoice, customs documents).