Celadon Mizusashi Water Jar by Heian Tezuka Keiunsai — Kyoto Porcelain, Tomobako

A celadon mizusashi water jar by Kyoto ceramicist Tezuka Keiunsai — slim cylindrical form, pale jade glaze, iron-spot landscape, signed tomobako. Kyoto celadon porcelain, Japanese tea ceremony water jar, chaire companion, wabi-sabi vessel for chado collectors.

🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]
• Artist: Tezuka Keiunsai (手塚景雲造), Kyoto (平安)
• Form: Hosomizusashi (細水指) — slender cylindrical water jar with loop-knob lid
• Technique: Celadon glaze (seiji) on porcelain, high-fire reduction
• Era: Contemporary (Showa–Heisei period)
• Origin: Kyoto, Japan
• Dimensions: Approximately 18–20 cm height (to confirm from box inscription); lid included
• Box: Original tomobako (wooden box) included — some wear and sun-fading to box exterior
• Condition: Jar itself is in good condition; minor iron-spot inclusions are natural to the glaze

🔹 [ CULTURAL & ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]
The mizusashi — the vessel that holds cold water for replenishing the iron kettle — occupies a quiet authority in the tea ceremony. It rests on the shelf or mat not to announce itself, but to be present. Celadon, that ancient glaze born of Song Dynasty ambition and perfected in kilns from Longquan to Kyoto, is the color of stillness itself: neither blue nor green, but the exact shade of a mountain held in morning mist. Tezuka Keiunsai worked within the long lineage of Kyoto's seiji tradition, producing forms of controlled restraint. The iron spots scattered across this surface — small dark constellations in jade light — are not flaws. They are the kiln's signature, evidence of where iron within the clay migrated through the heat and found the surface.

🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]
The cylindrical hosomizusashi form demands particular discipline. Unlike the broader, shouldered jar that can absorb imprecision in its curves, the cylinder reveals everything: the exactness of the throwing, the evenness of the wall, the confidence with which the lip was completed. This piece demonstrates a hand that understood geometry as a spiritual proposition.

The celadon glaze applied here reads as a continuous field of pale jade — not a flat industrial coating but a material with internal movement. Where the glaze pooled slightly at the base, it deepens to a richer tone; where it stretched thin around the upper body, it approaches the transparency of pale aquamarine. This gradient, barely perceptible at first, is the depth that rewards sustained looking.

The tomobako carries the artist's signature and the inscription naming the piece. In Japanese ceramic culture, the wooden box is not packaging — it is the provenance record, the handshake between maker and collector that validates the object's passage through time. A box with wear is a box that has protected its contents faithfully.

For the tea practitioner, a celadon mizusashi carries specific seasonal resonance — its cool jade quality suits the warmer months, when the color of water and mountain jade together compose a scene of refreshment. For the collector or designer, this vessel functions as an object of pure presence: a cylinder of celadon light that needs only a surface and permission to rest.

[ JAPANESE DESCRIPTION / 日本語解説 ]
🔹 【基本情報】
• 作者：平安 手塚景雲造
• 形状：細水指（筒形、環紐蓋付き）
• 技法：青磁釉、磁器、酸化還元高火度焼成
• 時代：昭和〜平成期
• 産地：京都
• 寸法：高さ約18〜20cm（共箱記載要確認）
• 箱：共箱付き（箱に経年の傷・日焼けあり）
• 状態：本体は良好。自然な鉄斑あり

🔹 【文化・芸術的背景】
水指は茶席において釜の湯を補うための水を蓄える器であり、棚や畳の上に静かに存在する。青磁はその沈黙の色。宋代に生まれ、龍泉から京都へと伝わったその釉薬は、青とも緑とも決しない、山霞の朝の色である。手塚景雲は京の青磁の系譜に連なる作家として、抑制の利いた端正な作品を残している。

🔹 【コレクター向け解説】
細水指の形は、作家の技量を隠すことができない。この作品の均一な筒壁と自然な鉄斑の配置は、轆轤の確かな習熟と釉薬への深い理解を示す。青磁釉は胴の下部でわずかに濃く溜まり、上部では淡い翡翠色の透明感を持つ。共箱の傷や日焼けは、この器が誠実に保護されてきた証でもある。茶人にとっては夏季の取り合わせに、コレクターには床の間を構成する一点として、純粋な存在感を発揮する作品である。

🔹 [ SHIPPING & PACKAGING ]
• Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days
• Carrier: Japan Post EMS / UPS (with tracking)
• Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials