{"product_id":"kinsai-bamboo-matcha-chawan-by-hirai-kakuzan-kyoto-kiyomizu-yaki-gold-leaf-tea-bowl-with-chikusai-bamboo-painting-and-signed-tomobako","title":"Kinsai Bamboo Matcha Chawan by Hirai Kakuzan, Kyoto Kiyomizu-yaki Gold Leaf Tea Bowl with Chikusai Bamboo Painting and Signed Tomobako","description":"Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Kinsai Bamboo Matcha Chawan. This Hirai Kakuzan Kiyomizu-yaki Tea Bowl serves as a Japanese Tea Ceremony Vessel and Gold Leaf Matcha Bowl, featuring Chikusai Bamboo Painting and Kinpaku Gold Foil Ground—a must-have for any Art Collector seeking Kyoto Ceramic Artistry and Signed Tomobako Chawan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]\u003cbr\u003e• Artist: Hirai Kakuzan (平井覚山), Kiyomizu-yaki potter of Kyoto\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Kinsai (金彩) — gold foil and gold pigment decoration with overglaze colour enamels\u003cbr\u003e• Kiln: Kiyomizu-yaki \/ Kyo-yaki, Kyoto\u003cbr\u003e• Form: Chawan (茶碗) — matcha tea bowl for the Japanese tea ceremony\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Late Showa to Heisei period, circa 1980–2010\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Kyoto, Japan\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: Diameter approx. 12 cm (4.72 in) × Height approx. 7 cm (2.76 in)\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Original signed kiri-wood tomobako with artist's inscription (a light stain on the box exterior)\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: Excellent. No cracks, no chips. Foot ring clean, glaze and gold surface well preserved.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ Cultural \u0026amp; Artistic Insight ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHistorical Context — Kiyomizu-yaki (清水焼), the ceramic tradition of Kyoto's Higashiyama district, has for nearly four hundred years supplied the imperial capital with its most refined tableware and tea utensils. Unlike the severe rusticity of Shigaraki or the volcanic presence of Raku, Kiyomizu-yaki belongs to the aristocratic imagination of Kyoto: polychrome enamels, gold leaf, poetic motifs, and a decorative intelligence inherited from the Nonomura Ninsei and Ogata Kenzan schools. Within that lineage, kinsai — the use of applied gold — represents the summit of celebratory tea ware, reserved for spring and auspicious occasions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTechnique \u0026amp; Aesthetic — Hirai Kakuzan's chawan is covered almost entirely in a field of gold leaf, laid in small overlapping squares that shimmer and shift as the bowl is turned in the hand. Over this golden ground, the painter has drawn slender culms of bamboo in green and black enamel, their leaves layered and gently waving, as though the gold itself were moonlight filtered through a grove. The interior of the bowl catches the same golden light, so that each bowl of whisked matcha seems to float on a luminous pool.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePhilosophical Reflection — Bamboo on a field of gold is the seasonal prayer of the tea room: may your presence endure, may your lineage stand tall, may quiet light rest upon you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ Deep-Dive Commentary ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe tradition of kinsai (gold decoration) in Kyoto ceramics traces directly to the seventeenth-century masters Nonomura Ninsei and Ogata Kenzan, who first synthesised Chinese-inspired polychrome enamelling with a distinctly Japanese sense of poetic restraint. Their legacy lives on in contemporary Kiyomizu workshops, where gold is used not as decoration but as light itself — a way of speaking about seasons, auspicious moments, and the interior state of the tea guest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHirai Kakuzan is among the Kyoto potters who continue this refined idiom. In this chawan, the gold ground is not a flat wash but a carefully constructed mosaic: squares of kinpaku (gold leaf) pressed one beside the next, each slightly tilted so that the bowl flashes differently depending on the angle of viewing. Over this shimmering surface, bamboo culms are drawn with a brush in green and dark ink, their leaves scattered in the rhythmic clusters familiar from Japanese suiboku painting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWithin chanoyu, this bowl belongs to the category of harimono or auspicious ware — the sort of chawan a host selects for New Year tea, spring chaji, or a celebratory gathering. To hold it in both hands is to feel a subtle warmth, as though the gold had absorbed candlelight. To drink matcha from its interior is to look down into a small golden lake in which powdered green rises like moss along the banks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor collectors of Kyoto ceramics, a signed Kiyomizu kinsai chawan with intact tomobako is a meaningful acquisition. The tomobako (共箱) — the artist's own paulownia box, brushed with title and seal — carries the provenance of the piece and completes its silence. This example retains its tomobako with the original inscription. The bowl itself is in excellent condition, with the gold leaf fully present and the enamel bamboo crisp and unworn. Suitable for active chanoyu use, and equally at home as a contemplative still-life on a dark wooden shelf.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[ JAPANESE DESCRIPTION \/ 日本語解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 基本情報 ]\u003cbr\u003e• 作家：平井覚山（ひらい かくざん）— 京焼・清水焼の陶工\u003cbr\u003e• 窯：清水焼（京焼）\u003cbr\u003e• 技法：金彩 — 金箔・金泥による装飾と色絵の併用\u003cbr\u003e• 品目：抹茶碗（茶道具）\u003cbr\u003e• 時代：昭和後期〜平成期（1980–2010年頃）\u003cbr\u003e• 産地：京都\u003cbr\u003e• 寸法：直径約12cm × 高さ約7cm\u003cbr\u003e• 付属：共箱（桐）あり、箱書・作家印あり。箱にシミございます。\u003cbr\u003e• 状態：良好。ヒビ・カケなし、金彩・絵付ともにしっかり残っております。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 文化的・芸術的背景 ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e清水焼は、四百年におよぶ京焼の中心にして、宮廷文化の華やぎを今に伝える陶磁の系譜です。野々村仁清・尾形乾山に端を発する金彩の伝統は、単なる装飾を超え、「光そのものを器に宿す」工芸美として発展してまいりました。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e本作において平井覚山は、金箔を細かく押し連ねた市松状の地の上に、竹の意匠を緑と墨で繊細に描き上げております。金の地は光の角度ごとに表情を変え、椀の内面もまた金の光を湛えて、点てた抹茶の緑が金の湖に浮かぶように映えてまいります。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 鑑賞と席での活かし方 ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e金彩に竹の意匠は、吉祥・長寿・清廉を寿ぐ画題として、正月や春の茶事、祝儀の席に相応しい取り合わせです。両手に包めば、金箔の地がほのかに光を返し、席全体を一段と華やかに照らしてくれます。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e共箱には箱書と作家印があり、来歴を伝える備えも整っております。京焼金彩茶碗として、茶人・蒐集家いずれにとっても満足度の高い一碗です。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ SHIPPING \u0026amp; PACKAGING ]\u003cbr\u003e• Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days\u003cbr\u003e• Carrier: Japan Post EMS \/ UPS (with tracking)\u003cbr\u003e• Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials","brand":"The Modern Zen Archive","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61744697966962,"sku":"260408_a_2676","price":934.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m70169500581_1.jpg?v=1775612288","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/kinsai-bamboo-matcha-chawan-by-hirai-kakuzan-kyoto-kiyomizu-yaki-gold-leaf-tea-bowl-with-chikusai-bamboo-painting-and-signed-tomobako","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}