Kenzan-Style Iris Chawan by Ikkyu-gama — Shobu Overglaze Tea Bowl

✦ Kenzan-style iris chawan | Ikkyu-gama | overglaze enamel | kinsai gold | paulownia tomobako | shobu motif | Japanese tea ceremony | seasonal tea bowl | new condition

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🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]
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• Kiln: Ikkyu-gama (壱休窯)
• Style: Kenzan-style (乾山写し) overglaze enamel
• Motif: Shobu / Iris (菖蒲)
• Height: approx. 8.2 cm
• Diameter: approx. 12.2 cm
• Condition: New, unused
• Box: Signed paulownia tomobako inscribed "乾山 菖蒲 茶碗" / "壱休窯" with kiln seal
• Season: Late spring – early summer (May, Tango no Sekku)

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🔹 [ CULTURAL & ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]
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Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743) did not merely decorate ceramics — he brought the painter's eye inside the kiln. Where his brother Korin composed on silk and lacquer, Kenzan translated that flattened, ornamental sensibility onto clay. The result was a ceramic tradition unlike any that preceded it: forms kept deliberately simple, surfaces given entirely to the image.

This bowl by Ikkyu-gama inherits that logic. The base glaze is a soft celadon-grey, almost recessive — present enough to anchor the piece, silent enough to let the painting lead. Against it, the shobu iris moves in full 360-degree encirclement: deep blue-purple blooms, white accents, green leaves outlined in gold. The kinsai gold dust scattered across the ground is not ornament added after the fact; it is light held inside the surface.

Shobu carries weight in the Japanese seasonal calendar. By the fifth day of the fifth month — Tango no Sekku, Boys' Day — iris leaves are cut and floated in bathwater to ward off illness and strengthen the spirit. The flower itself stands upright, blade-straight, flowering precisely as spring becomes summer. To use this bowl in May is to bring that awareness into the tea space.

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🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]
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The Kenzan tradition survives not through strict lineage but through a shared understanding of what a decorated ceramic should do. Surface and form must not compete. The painting on this bowl does not fight its shape — the irises flow with the curve, appearing and disappearing as the bowl turns in the hands. That continuity, the sense that the image belongs to the object rather than sitting upon it, is the essential quality Kenzan established and this piece demonstrates.

Ikkyu-gama's work in this tradition is characterized by technical clarity: the overglaze enamels are applied with confident, unhesitating brushwork. The blue-purple of the iris blooms holds depth without muddiness. The white flowers punctuate without competing. The gold outlines on the leaves are fine and controlled — enough to define, not enough to dominate.

The tomobako carries both the style name and the kiln seal, establishing provenance for collection or formal tea use. The bowl arrives new, never used — its first host will also be its first user.

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【日本語説明】
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壱休窯による乾山写し菖蒲文抹茶碗です。柔らかな青磁灰釉を地として、金砂子を散らした上に菖蒲の花を色絵で描いています。青紫の花、白い花弁、金彩で縁取られた緑の葉が碗の全周にわたって描かれ、見込みはすっきりとした無文。口縁の茶色い景色も落ち着きを与えています。

菖蒲は端午の節句（五月五日）を象徴する花であり、清明と力強さを意味する季節の取り合わせ。茶席において五月前後にこの碗を用いることで、季節の気配を点前の中に招き入れることができます。

乾山の様式は、形を器として、表面を絵画として扱うという思想に基づいています。本碗もその精神を受け継ぎ、絵付けの確かさと形の簡素さが一体となっています。

箱書きには「乾山 菖蒲 茶碗」「壱休窯」と記され、窯印も捺されています。新品・未使用の状態でお届けします。

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