A Tianqi 1621 – 1627 Ko-sometsuke Blue and White Porcelain Dish

A Tianqi 1621 – 1627 Ko-sometsuke Blue and White Porcelain Dish. This small shallow Ming blue and white dish has been painted with two inhabited rocky islands. The foreground shows a person in dark clothes gesturing in the direction of the low bridge. Upward rocks in the center, have water swirling around boulders below. Four buildings nestle among the rocks and trees. In the distance, the other rocky island is under the sun, its peak covered with trees. An insect or bird to the left is depicted aone line drawn through three lines.

Ko-sometsuke and Ko-akai : Ming Porcelain Made For Japan Both of these terms Japanese terms refer to Chinese porcelain made for the Japaneses market, they are pieces that were used for the Japanese tea ceremony or closely associated with it. Ko-sometsuke is a term used to describe Chinese blue and white porcelain made for Japan, while Ko-akai refers to the porcelain decorated with enamels. This late Ming porcelain was made from the Wanli period (1573-1620), through the Tianqi period (1621 – 1627) ending in the Chongzhen period (1628-1644), the main period of production being the 1620’2 and 1630’s. The porcelain made in China for Japanese reflected a rise in interest of the Japanese tea ceremony, but it also coincided with the beginning of porcelain production in Japan (from c.1610/20). The porcelain objects produced in China were made especially for the Japanese market, both the shapes and the designs were tailored to Japanese taste, the production process too allowed for Japanese aesthetics to be included in the finished object. Its seems firing faults were added, repaired tears in the leather-hard body were too frequent to not, in some cases, be deliberate. These imperfections as well as the fritted Mushikui (insect-nibbled) rims and kiln grit on the footrims all added to the Japanese aesthetic. These imperfections were something to be treasured by the Japanese, they reflect an imperfect world and the aesthetics of Wabi-Sabi. These ‘faults’ was an anathema to the Chinese, but they went along with it to satisfy the needs of their Japanese customers. The shapes created were often expressly made for the Japanese tea ceremony, especially the meal associated with tea drinking, the Kaiseki. Small dishes for serving food at the tea ceremony are the most commonly encountered form. Designs, presumably taken from Japanese drawings sent to China, these are very varied and often extremely imaginative. They often used large amount of the white porcelain contrasting well with the asymmetry of the design, sometime the Chinese couldn’t help themselves but to fill in these gaps with ‘excess’ decoration. Many other forms were made, among them are charcoal burners, water pots, Kōgō  (incense box) as well as variously shaped dishes in the form of fish, fruit or familiar country animals.

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