The early original tea jars were precisely straightforward, unelaborate, an aspect of the pottery that appealed to tea masters, who adopted tea jars as storage vessels for tea leaves. The tea jars preserved the fragrance and the freshness of the tea, and were finally accorded with the aesthetic idea of wabi tea. The wabi aesthetic was developed by the fifteenth-century tea master Juko, who praised jars that had a withered well-used appearance. The concept of wabi has roots in Zen spiritual austerity.
The Zen awakening produced interest in native wares from the local kilns and merchant ships that carried practical simple wares. This unpretentious merchant ware jar was most likely from southern China, and was exported to Japan where the tea ceremony was a simple procedure, yet an elaborate ritual of hospitality, and still remains an integral part of Japanese culture.
This jar was constructed from iron rich coarse-textured stoneware clay, containing abundant sand and small stones. The conical form shows the controlled shape of the body with a high rounded shoulder that tapers to the base. The ridges indicate the successive levels of the coiling, and the neck in particular was amenable to refinement and most likely finished off on a wheel. The cylindrical neck has a thick outward rolled rim that prevented damage from heavy continuous use.
The potter attached four lugs, spacing them evenly around the jar's shoulder and close to the neck. Each lug has a short-flattened strip of clay created by the potter's thumb and fingers, looking as if he was swiping away access clay, each lug is slightly different. The potter left their finger prints in the fired clay.
This chatsubo was fired in a climbing-step kiln where wood was used to fuel the kiln. The kiln was stacked with numerous jars and other pottery where the chatsubo was exposed to flame, smoke and ash during the firing. The iron rich clay and the long firing created pigment marks on the surface where the melted glaze goes from a deep lustrous dark brown to amber colored caramel.
References:
John M. Rosenfield, Shujiro Shimada, Traditions of Japanese Art, Selections from the Kimiko and John Powers Collection, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1970.
The Shogun Age, Exhibition Executive Committee (from the Tokugawa Art Museum), The Exhibit Catalog, Printed in Japan, 1983.
The Zen awakening produced interest in native wares from the local kilns and merchant ships that carried practical simple wares. This unpretentious merchant ware jar was most likely from southern China, and was exported to Japan where the tea ceremony was a simple procedure, yet an elaborate ritual of hospitality, and still remains an integral part of Japanese culture.
This jar was constructed from iron rich coarse-textured stoneware clay, containing abundant sand and small stones. The conical form shows the controlled shape of the body with a high rounded shoulder that tapers to the base. The ridges indicate the successive levels of the coiling, and the neck in particular was amenable to refinement and most likely finished off on a wheel. The cylindrical neck has a thick outward rolled rim that prevented damage from heavy continuous use.
The potter attached four lugs, spacing them evenly around the jar's shoulder and close to the neck. Each lug has a short-flattened strip of clay created by the potter's thumb and fingers, looking as if he was swiping away access clay, each lug is slightly different. The potter left their finger prints in the fired clay.
This chatsubo was fired in a climbing-step kiln where wood was used to fuel the kiln. The kiln was stacked with numerous jars and other pottery where the chatsubo was exposed to flame, smoke and ash during the firing. The iron rich clay and the long firing created pigment marks on the surface where the melted glaze goes from a deep lustrous dark brown to amber colored caramel.
Tea masters and Shogun society sent their tea jars to the tea growers who filled the jar with leaves for the coming year. There was a time in Japanese history when the Shogun families would dispatch a procession to the tea-growing district of Kyoto; the men would carry these jars and have them filled with the fresh leaf tea. When tea was to be served to guests, a small portion of tea leaves were removed from the jar and ground into fine chartreuse green powder called Matcha which is made with a hand-turned mill stone. That tea was transferred to the Matsuba and/or Chaire container used during the tea ceremony. The Matsuba and Chaire are celebrated objects that hold the powdered Matcha during a tea ceremony, the Matsuba is made of wood and lacquer and the Chaire is usually bizen ware ceramic with an ivory lid.
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| Matsuba in lacquer |
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| Chaire |
As for the chatsubo, the formal tea master would have had a wood stopper, a fabric cover and a silk cord that would have been tied around the neck and strung through the four lugs. The lugs are used to fasten the wooden stopper and fabric cover in place. The tea jar would have been stored in a dark dank place to create more aroma of the dried tea leaves, making it ready for the next most important tea ceremony. With the jar filled with tea, it became an object of great rare value and the finest jars were passed from hand to hand among the powerful Japanese families.
References:
John M. Rosenfield, Shujiro Shimada, Traditions of Japanese Art, Selections from the Kimiko and John Powers Collection, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1970.
The Shogun Age, Exhibition Executive Committee (from the Tokugawa Art Museum), The Exhibit Catalog, Printed in Japan, 1983.
Some use the words: Cha-tsubo for a tea jar, others use Chatsubo.
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©2021. Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art is a research collaborative, working to track artists that got lost and overlooked due to time, changing styles, race, gender and/or sexual orientation. Our frequent blogs highlight artists and art movements that need renewed attention with improved information for the researcher and art collectors. The photos and blog was created by Mr. Waller and all written materials were obtained by the Fair Use Section 107, of The Copyright Act. #waller-yoblonskyblogspot #walleryoblonskyblogspot #tea-leafjar #Chinesetea-leafjar
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