Seto Chaire with Brocade Pouch (Shifuku)

A small thrown stoneware tea caddy of ovoid form, the rounded shoulder rising to a short rolled rim, the body showing faint throwing ridges. The upper half is covered in a lustrous amber-brown iron glaze with black streaks running down from the shoulder, thinning over the lower body into a soft mauve-grey with darker mottled patches. The glaze stops irregularly above the unglazed foot, which shows the dark reddish-brown clay. The interior is glazed brown and shows the throwing rings. The flat base is unglazed, with a small glaze run at one edge. It comes with a fitted shifuku of blue, gold and green silk brocade, lined in green silk and closed with a blue-grey braided cord. The original ivory lid is not included, shifuku possibly of later date.

Compare:

• Seto Tea Caddy, Edo period, 17th century, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (inv. 1944.Ee.25a-b)