This beautiful guinomi (small teacup) is made from Hanshi, a warm beige-orange clay local to Shirakawa and Oriiyama in Uji said to resemble the morning sun, and features a crazed glaze with a 'gohonte'-style pattern of white spots.

It is decorated with the chinese character 'yǒu' 酉 - the Earthly Branch of the Chinese Zodiac associated with the Year of the Rooster.

This piece was made by Asahi-yaki (朝日焼), a world-renowned pottery workshop in Uji (near Kyoto) that dates back 16 generations and was founded over 400 years ago. While today they make a variety of high-quality ceramics, they were founded solely to perfect teaware for use in Japanese tea ceremonies. Today, the kiln is run by 15th generation potter Housai Matsubayashi and his son Yuusuke.

Dimensions:

7cm (2.8in) - width
4.5cm (1.8in) - height
50ml - capacity

Condition: Very good (small chip on the front, outside of the lip, please see photos)

This vintage Japanese item ships from Thailand

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