Thickly potted, the globular body, resting on a short, straight foot with a recessed base, with gently curved shoulders surmounted by a broad, circular mouth with a thick-lipped rim. The surface covered overall in a pale blue glaze, decorated around the upper half of the vessel with vertical undulating cream-white ridges, and slightly interrupted near the rim and the base, revealing the dark earthy tone of the underlying ceramic.
Japan, Saga Prefecture, Karatsu kilns, 16th-17th century AD.
Condition: commensurate with age showing old wear and typical firing-inherent irregularities. Expected traces of use to the interior. The vessel visibly fractured and carefully repaired in ancient kintsugi. Overall, the jar still presenting remarkably well.
Dimensions: Height 14.3 cm, Diameter 18.7 cms.
Weight: 1.86 kgs
Provenance: From The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Paris, France. According to the Myers ledger acquired on 20 September 1977 in Brussels, Belgium, and in the collection for almost 50 years. The base affixed with an old, handwritten label with the inscription 'Karatsu Momo' and an early inventory number.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related Karatsu ware fresh water jar (mizusashi), similarly repaired with gold and silver lacquer, Edo period, 17th century, 13.5 cm diameter, in the British Museum, registration number Franks.1804.+.
Compare a related Karatsu ware fresh water jar (mizusashi) with similar wave-like decorative motifs, Momoyama period, c. 1610-1630, in the Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Saga Prefecture, collection number 06025.
The philosophy of Kintsugi is essentially Buddhist in its foundational principles. While it began as a physical craft technique in 15th-century Japan, its underlying ideological framework is an artistic and practical manifestation of Zen Buddhism.
Kintsugi, literally meaning 'gold joinery', designates an ancient Japanese technique for repairing broken ceramic vessels through the rejoining of fractured areas with urushi lacquer mixed with or dusted in powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Beyond technical practice, kintsugi embodied a philosophical stance that regarded breakage and repair as integral elements within the life of an object. Fractures remained visible, not as damage to be effaced, but as a testament to the coexistence of loss, continuity, and renewal within the flow of life.
All things are in constant flux; nothing stays perfect forever. Celebrating the fracture and age of the ceramic rather than hiding it. Wabi-Sabi - finding beauty in simplicity, detachment, and the natural cycle of growth and decay. Highlighting the broken lines with gold, making the flawed object more valuable than a pristine one. Mushin (No-Mind) - achieving a state of mental freedom, acceptance of fate, and non-attachment. Releasing the distress of accidental breakage and accepting the physical transformation. Mottainai (Mindfulness of Waste) - treating resources with respect, avoiding waste, and practicing compassion. Taking months to carefully mend a broken vessel with natural lacquer and precious metals.
Karatsu ware is a type of Japanese ceramics produced in and around Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, in the island of Kyushu, which became an important center of foreign trade as well as a hub of ceramic production from the Azuchi-Momoyama period onward. It was in this region that Korean potters first introduced the 'noborigama', or climbing kiln, to Japan in the late sixteenth century, an innovation that allowed greater control during firing and enabled the production of more refined ceramics. The techniques they brought to Karatsu kiln sites also played a crucial role in the development of porcelain production in Japan in the early seventeenth century.