Japanese tea ceremony.

Photo: andrew widdis

Photo: andrew widdis

I found this lovely Shino glazed tea ceremony bowl when I was at The Tokyo National Museum, last year. I also saw a lovely Shino (below)tea ceremony bowl at The British Museum' Crafting beauty in modern Japan exhibition last year. From those two bowls I have found my interest in "Shino". Before actually seeing true Japanese Shino's I never really understood its simple beauty. That goes for the vessels too! You could at first think of them as naive pottery, but there’s something about knowing your technique so well that you can start to simplify the form and decoration. Rugged beauty!

Teabowl, 2006
Suzuki Osama (b.1934)

Stoneware with glaze, Shino style.