A white shino tea bowl that carries snow in its surface. The irregular cream glaze pools and thins across hand-built walls, iron spotting emerging like ink through winter frost — a landscape that forms itself each time light passes. Yano Keisen presented a tea bowl to the Crown Prince at the Imperial Wedding. That act of authorship now belongs to this object.
[ BASIC DETAILS ] • Artist: Yano Keisen (矢野景川) • Ware: Shino-yaki (志野焼) • Dimensions: diameter 12.5 cm × height 7.0 cm • Condition: Good vintage condition • Provenance: Signed wooden box (tomobako) included
[ CULTURAL CONTEXT ] Shino ware emerged in Mino province in the late Momoyama period and became the first Japanese-originated glaze tradition, distinct from Chinese influence. The thick feldspar glaze — white, porous, alive with iron flecks — became the preferred vessel for the wabi tea aesthetic that Sen no Rikyu shaped. Yano Keisen worked within this lineage, bringing a formal sensibility that earned him recognition at the Imperial level. The rough outer surface conceals a smooth interior that holds the green of matcha with clarity.
[ DEEP DIVE ] The form here is atypical shino — not the soft cylinder but a compressed, outward-flaring shape that widens at the rim. The foot is modest and grounded. The walls carry visible hand pressure: asymmetries that make the bowl alive in the hand. On one face, iron speckle clusters toward the base in a pattern resembling scattered leaves. On the opposite face, the glaze runs cleaner, luminous. This is how shino bowls are used — rotated, the front and back offering two different silences.
🔹 [ SHIPPING & PACKAGING ] • Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days • Carrier: Japan Post EMS / UPS (with tracking) • Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials
