Crescent Moon Upon the Waves - Kyo-yaki Chawan

Name: Crescent Moon Upon the Waves - Kyo-yaki Chawan
Brand: Miyaji Eikō
SKU: US-M417
Price: 112.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Miyaji Eikō

$112.00

This elegant Kyo-yaki chawan (matcha bowl) is a replica of Nonomura Ninsei's famous Cresent Moon Upon the Waves (波に三日月) tea bowl. Faithfully reproducing the original's painted design, this bowl is decorated with a thin crescent moon in gold behind crashing ocean waves in blue and turquoise. Though simple by Kyo-yaki standards, the dynamic composition of this design has captivated potters for over three hundred years.

Nonomura Ninsei (野々村仁清) is known for perfecting overglaze painting in Kyoto in the late 1600s, giving rise to modern styles of Kyo-yaki. Today, some of his works are regarded as national treasures.

This chawan was made specially for us by Eikō Miyaji (宮地英香), a workshop known for producing affordable and accessible iro-e and seasonal Kyo-yaki chawan, helping spread tea and tea culture.

There are many styles of chawan produced in the Kyōto area and few are as synonymous with the term Kyō-yaki (京焼 - Kyōto wares) as the colourful overglaze painted styles. While there is no agreed upon term for the general Kyōto style, the term iro-e ( 色絵 - colourful paintings) refers to the technique of overglaze painting. Unlike the painted styles detailed above which used iron pigments applied underneath a transparent glaze, overglaze decoration uses enamels applied on top of the glaze. This allows for much more colourful and detailed designs and images. The development of this style can be traced to three individual potters. Nonomura Ninsei (野々村仁清) and his student Ogata Kenzan (尾形乾山) pioneered the style in the early-mid Edo period. Later in the 1700s, Okuda Eisen (奥田頴川) introduced porcelain technology to Kyōto which made overglaze painting easier.