theclayhouse:

Kizaemon Tea-Bowl, Korea, 16th Century (used for Japanese Tea Ceremony, 17th Century).


“This single Tea-bowl is considered to be the finest in the world. When I saw it, my heart fell. … So simple, no more ordinary thing could be imagined. …The clay had been dug from the hill at the back of the house; the glaze was made with the ash from the hearth; the potter’s wheel had been irregular. The shape revealed no particular thought: it was one of many. The work had been fast; the turning was rough, done with dirty hands; the throwing slipshod; the glaze had run over the foot. … The kiln was a wretched affair; the firing careless. Sand had stuck to the pot. … Made for a purpose, made to do work. Sold to be used in everyday life. …

“The Tea masters liked the fine netting of crackle on Ido bowls… They found a charm when the glaze skipped in firing, and when a ‘landscape’ formed in the pattern of mended cracks. … [T]hey developed a high appreciation for the internal volume and curve of bowls; they looked to see how green tea settles into them. They were particular how the rims of bowls feel to the lips… By whose hands was that remarkable beauty produced, to be later discovered by the sharp eyes of men of Tea?”

– Sōetsu Yanagi, The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty