Experience authentic Japanese Shino ware with this Ando Minoru E-Shino Tea Bowl. This Iron Painted Mino Chawan serves as a Momoyama Style Ceramic and Shino Glaze Masterwork, featuring Lattice Motif Design and Mino Stoneware Art—a must-have for any Art Collector seeking Japanese Tea Bowls and Wabi Sabi Ceramics.
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🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]
• Artist: Ando Minoru (安藤實), also known as Ando Shunsui (安藤春水) • Type: E-Shino Chawan (絵志野茶碗) • Technique: E-Shino (painted Shino) — iron-painted designs under white feldspathic glaze • Era: Showa–Heisei period (mature period work) • Origin: Mino (Toki City), Japan • Dimensions: Dia approx. 13.8 cm × H approx. 8.3–8.8 cm • Box: Tomobako (signed wooden box) with cloth wrapper • Condition: Excellent
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🔹 [ CULTURAL & ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]
Ando Minoru (1927–2015) devoted his life to understanding the ceramic traditions of Mino — the heartland of Shino, Oribe, and Ki-Seto wares that defined the Momoyama tea aesthetic. He served as vice-director of the Toki City Ceramic Testing Facility and authored books on antique pottery (koto), channeling decades of scholarly inquiry into a bold, unrestrained ceramic practice centered on kohiki, Shino, and Oribe.
E-Shino (painted Shino) is among the most celebrated expressions of the Mino tradition. Iron pigment is brushed directly onto the clay body, then covered with a thick white feldspathic glaze. During firing, the painted motifs emerge through the milky surface with a softened, almost dreamlike quality — a dialogue between the potter's brushwork and the kiln's atmosphere.
*"The lattice holds — not the glaze, but the intention beneath it."*
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🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]
**E-Shino Tradition**: E-Shino originated in the Mino region during the Momoyama period (late 16th century) as one of several Shino sub-styles. Unlike plain Shino (mu-ji Shino) with its undecorated white surface, E-Shino introduces iron-pigment painting beneath the glaze — creating a layered visual experience where brushwork and kiln effects negotiate the final surface.
**Surface Character**: This bowl carries Ando's characteristic directness. Bold lattice and cross (X) motifs in grey-blue iron pigment assert themselves beneath the creamy Shino surface, their geometry softened but never dissolved by the thick glaze. Where the glaze thins — particularly along the rim and at points of the hand-shaped contours — warm orange-red fire color (hi-iro) breaks through, evidence of the iron-rich Mino clay responding to the kiln.
**Form and Making**: The form itself is deliberately irregular: a wavy, undulating rim and robust stoneware walls shaped by hand rather than turned to precision. This is the Momoyama spirit that Ando studied and internalized — the conviction that a tea bowl gains its life not from perfection but from the accumulation of decisive gestures.
**Provenance**: The tomobako bears the inscription "志野" (Shino) with the artist's signature "實" and red seal, confirming attribution within the Mino E-Shino tradition.
🔹 [ SHIPPING & PACKAGING ] • Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days • Carrier: Japan Post EMS / UPS (with tracking) • Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials
*A lattice of iron beneath a veil of snow — the Momoyama spirit, carried forward by a scholar's hand.*
