Shigaraki tea bowl c. 20th century

This Shigaraki tea bowl was made by Sugimoto Tatsuo, a contemporary Japanese ceramicist born in 1940. It's a beautiful example of Shigaraki ware, a type of pottery rooted in the feudal period and one of the six ancient kilns of Japan. Shigaraki's unique clay and firing techniques have made it highly prized for tea ceremonies for centuries. The wabi-sabi aesthetic, with its appreciation for imperfection and naturalness, is strong here. The rough texture and irregular shape challenge the notion of perfect craftsmanship and elevate the beauty of the unplanned, such as the ash deposits and scorch marks acquired during firing. As art historians, we can look at how the tea bowl relates to the cultural history of the tea ceremony, to the socio-economic conditions that shape artistic production and consumption, and to the ways museums collect and display objects of different cultures. In doing so, we understand more about the complex ways that Japanese culture is viewed and appreciated.