The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Tea Bowl

Tea Bowl

1600s
Diameter of mouth: 14.6 cm (5 3/4 in.); Overall: 8.9 cm (3 1/2 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

For its imperfect aesthetics, this type of rustic tea bowl was highly appreciated among advanced Japanese practitioners of the tea ceremony.

Description

This type of wide-mouthed bowl was used every day in Korea, not exclusively for tea drinking. But when it was introduced to Japan around the early 16th century, its imperfect appearance, which evokes the aesthetics of wabi-sabi, caused it to be repurposed as a tea bowl. Korean tea bowls were circulated as a item of foreign luxury among Japanese military elites. This type of tea bowl may have been produced in one of the kilns established and operated by the trading office (Waegwan) in Busan, southern Gyeongsang province, as an export item for Japanese tea bowl collectors.
  • ?–1996
    (James J. Freeman, Kyōto, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1996–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Major Works,” March 18, 1996, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Jeong, Dong-ju. From Joseon Rice Bowl to Yido Tea Bowl [조선 막사발과 이도다완]. Paju: Hangil ateu, 2012.
    Hur, Nam-lin. “Korean Tea Bowls (Kōrai Chawan) and Japanese Wabicha: A Story of Acculturation in Premodern Northeast Asia.” Korean Studies 39 (2015): 1–22. www.jstor.org
    Kang, Mu-Chang. "A Study on the Characteristics of Japanese Made-to-Order Ceramics and the Transition Process of Busan Waegwanyo Kiln - With a focus on Commissioned Tea Bowls [일본 주문 도자기의 특징과 부산 왜관요 변천과정에 관한 연구 - 주문다완(御本茶碗)을 중심으로]." Hankuk dojahak yeongu 17, no. 3 (2020): 5-19. www.dbpia.co.kr
    Heo, Hyun-Jung. "Resource Supply and Demand of Waegwanyo in the Late Joseon Dynasty [조선후기 왜관요의 자원 수급]." Hangdo busan no. 39 (2020): 205-239. www.dbpia.co.kr
  • {{cite web|title=Tea Bowl|url=false|author=|year=1600s|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.4