This Zeze-yaki hantsutsu-gata chawan (matcha bowl) features a light grey glaze, decorated with a scene of a gilded boar in spring under the plum blossoms.

Part of a annual series of chawan centred around current zodiac animal, this chawan was made for the year of the pig/boar: 亥. Specifically, it was made for the year of the Yin Water Pig (癸亥 - in the secagenary cycle), meaning it was made in 1983.

This chawan was made by by Shinsada Iwasaki (岩崎新定) of Kagerō-en (陽炎園) who passed away in 2009. The bowl comes in its original kiribako (桐箱 - wooden paulownia box).

Zeze-yaki (膳所焼) hails from Otsu in Shiga Prefecture, and is one of Enshu's Seven Kilns—seven kilns favoured by influential Edo tea master Kobori Enshū—and thus is known is said to capture Enshu's aesthetic philosophy of kirei-sabi.

Dimensions:

11.5cm (4.5in) - width
8.5cm (3.3in) - height
300ml - capacity

Condition: Very good

This vintage Japanese item ships from the United States