{"product_id":"ninsei-style-chawan-by-eiraku-zengoro-xvi-zenzen-bamboo-and-tiger-motif-japanese-matcha-tea-bowl-with-signed-tomobako","title":"Ninsei Style Chawan by Eiraku Zengoro XVI Zenzen, Bamboo and Tiger Motif Japanese Matcha Tea Bowl with Signed Tomobako","description":"Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Ninsei Style Chawan by Eiraku. This Eiraku Zengoro Matcha Bowl serves as a New Year Tea Bowl and Kyoto Ware Chawan, featuring Bamboo and Tiger Motif and Hand Painted Iroe—a must-have for any Japanese Pottery Collector seeking Signed Tomobako Chawan from a Senke Jushoku Master.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]\u003cbr\u003e• Artist: Eiraku Zengoro XVI (Zenzen, 1917–1998), 16th-generation head of the Eiraku family, one of the Senke Jushoku — the ten hereditary artisan lineages serving the Sen tea masters of Kyoto.\u003cbr\u003e• Technique: Ninsei-style (Ninsei-utsushi) earthenware with hand-painted iroe overglaze enamels in green, black, yellow, red, and gold.\u003cbr\u003e• Motif: Bamboo grove with a tora (張子の虎 \/ papier-mâché tiger toy) — an auspicious New Year (shōgatsu) composition.\u003cbr\u003e• Era: Shōwa period, mid-20th century (1950s–1980s attributed).\u003cbr\u003e• Origin: Kyoto, Japan — Eiraku kiln, Senke Jushoku lineage.\u003cbr\u003e• Dimensions: Diameter approx. 12 cm, Height approx. 8 cm.\u003cbr\u003e• Box: Original signed kiri-wood tomobako (共箱) with hakogaki reading \"Zengoro zō\" (善五郎造), accompanied by shiori (栞 \/ maker's slip) and nuri-buta (lacquered inner lid).\u003cbr\u003e• Marks: Impressed \"Eiraku\" (永樂) seal on the underside.\u003cbr\u003e• Condition: Very good. No visible chips, cracks, or hairlines. Light natural patina consistent with careful tea-room use.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ CULTURAL \u0026amp; ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]\u003cbr\u003eThe Eiraku family stands among the Senke Jushoku (千家十職), the ten artisan houses appointed across generations to produce wares for the grand masters of the Urasenke, Omotesenke, and Mushakōjisenke schools of tea. To hold an Eiraku bowl is to hold a continuity of authorship that reaches back to the early Edo period — an unbroken line of hands working within, and quietly against, tradition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 16th-generation head, Eiraku Zenzen (即全, 1917–1998), led the kiln through the Shōwa era and is remembered for the refinement of his Ninsei-utsushi — homages to Nonomura Ninsei (野々村仁清), the 17th-century Kyoto potter whose soft cream clay body and jewel-bright iroe enamels defined Kyō-yaki elegance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere the Ninsei idiom is set to a New Year key. A papier-mâché tiger (hariko no tora) crouches among bamboo — the tiger a guardian against illness, the bamboo a symbol of uprightness through winter. Together they form a shōgatsu composition, a bowl meant for the first bowl of matcha in January, when the tearoom turns toward renewal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe flanks carry the painting; the interior is left quiet. A field of cream clay, a single drift of bamboo leaf. Space is the subject.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]\u003cbr\u003eNinsei-utsushi is not copying. It is a conversation across three centuries. The potter inherits Ninsei's soft earthenware body — low-fired, porous, almost the color of aged paper — and then works iroe enamels onto the glazed surface in a second firing at lower temperatures, allowing the reds and yellows to stay luminous rather than vitrify into hardness. Each pigment is laid by brush, bounded by fine sumi-black outlines and raised gold (kindei) tracery. The result is painting that sits on clay as if it had grown there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Eiraku workshop is unusual among the Senke Jushoku for its breadth: kinrande and akae in the Ming manner, Kōchi-ware green-and-yellow lead glazes, Ninsei and Kenzan homages, and the family's own dō-yaki (copper-green) wares. Zenzen codified this vocabulary for the post-war generation, training apprentices and producing pieces inscribed for each of the Senke iemoto of his time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the collector, a signed Eiraku chawan with its original tomobako occupies a specific shelf in the archive of Japanese tea. It is authorship you can read — kiln, generation, season, intention — written in box, seal, and slip. The paper trail is part of the object.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then, beneath all of that, there is the bowl itself: warm in the hand, light for its size, the foot cleanly turned, the rim gently lipped inward to gather the whisked tea. A tool, first. A document, second. A small painting that happens to hold hot water.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe tiger looks sideways, unbothered. The bamboo leans. Winter ends here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[ JAPANESE DESCRIPTION \/ 日本語解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 基本情報 ]\u003cbr\u003e• 作家: 十六代 永楽善五郎（即全 1917–1998）。千家十職のひとつ、永楽家十六代当主。\u003cbr\u003e• 技法: 仁清写（にんせいうつし）、色絵（緑・黒・黄・赤・金）による上絵付。\u003cbr\u003e• 意匠: 竹林に張子の虎 — 正月の祝儀茶碗。\u003cbr\u003e• 年代: 昭和期（20世紀中葉、1950〜80年代と推定）。\u003cbr\u003e• 産地: 京都・永楽窯、千家十職。\u003cbr\u003e• 寸法: 径 約12cm、高さ 約8cm。\u003cbr\u003e• 付属: 共箱（桐箱・箱書「善五郎造」）、栞、塗蓋。\u003cbr\u003e• 銘: 高台裏に「永樂」印。\u003cbr\u003e• 状態: 良好。目立つ傷・ひび・貫入の進行なし。穏やかな時代の景色のみ。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 文化的・美術的背景 ]\u003cbr\u003e永楽家は千家十職の一家として、裏千家・表千家・武者小路千家の歴代宗匠の御用を務めてきた京焼の名家。十六代善五郎（即全）は昭和を生き抜いた当代で、仁清写を現代の京焼として洗練させた人として知られる。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e仁清写とは、17世紀京都の陶工・野々村仁清の柔らかな土味と色絵の典雅を写す試み。ここでは正月の題 — 張子の虎と竹 — が択ばれている。虎は病を祓う守り、竹は冬を立てて通す姿。初釜の一碗として、季節の入口に置かれるべき茶碗。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e胴に絵、内に余白。景色を持つのは外側で、内側は薄い象牙色の土肌と一片の笹葉だけが残る。描かれていない部分こそが、この碗の主題でもある。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e🔹 [ 上級者向け解説 ]\u003cbr\u003e仁清写は模写ではなく、三世紀を隔てた対話である。低火度で焼かれた軟陶の素地に色絵を重ね、二度目の低温焼成で赤と黄を沈めずに残す。墨の輪郭と金泥の線が絵を締め、釉の上に絵が「育った」ように定着する。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e永楽窯は十職の中でも作域が広く、金襴手・赤絵・交趾・仁清・乾山・銅鑼釉（どうやき）と横断する。即全はこの語彙を戦後の世代に引き継ぎ、歴代宗匠のための作を残した作家でもある。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e共箱・箱書・栞の揃った永楽の茶碗は、茶道具としてだけでなく、「誰が・いつ・どの季節のために作ったか」を読める一次資料でもある。紙の痕跡もまた器の一部である。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eそしてその奥にあるのは、ただの一碗。手取り軽く、高台きっちり、口縁はやや内に抱き込んで茶を受ける。道具であり、記録であり、湯を湛える小さな絵画。\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e虎は横を向き、竹はわずかに傾ぐ。冬はここで終わる。\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":61795308044658,"sku":"260422_a_2738","price":1791.0,"currency_code":"AED","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/5680\/3698\/files\/m29794961080_1.jpg?v=1776868162","url":"https:\/\/checkout.themodernzenarchive.com\/products\/ninsei-style-chawan-by-eiraku-zengoro-xvi-zenzen-bamboo-and-tiger-motif-japanese-matcha-tea-bowl-with-signed-tomobako","provider":"The Modern Zen Archive","version":"1.0","type":"link"}