A rectangular stoneware dish with bridge handle and stepped rim (tebachi), Mino ware, Oribe type, Momoyama period, circa 1610s | 織部切落四方手鉢　桃山時代

Yokoe Manjiro (Chikken, c. 1868 - c. 1935)

Osaka Bijutsu Club, Osaka, Yokoe Chikken zohin tenkan zuroku [Catalogue of the Collection of Yokoe Chikken], 9th June 1935, Lot 348.

Ichiro Ito, ed., Chikken jubi cho [Masterpieces from the Collection of Yokoe Chikken], 1935.

Kobayashi Tadashi ed., Masterpieces of the Okada Museum of Art, vol. 1, Tokyo, 2013, p. 77, no. 58.

As if suspended on an undulating line, pairs of solid black and star-like patterned white roundels form the central design of this dish. Sawtooth (nokogiri) and striped (shima mon) patterns have been brushed on cursively around the everted rim. The overall effect is spontaneous; the green glazes puddling at the three corners seems almost aleatory. Despite the informality of the composition and the rustic appearance of the forked joints of the bridge handle imitating wicker baskets, the appeal to a certain aestheticism is highly thought-through. The bifurcation of the design suggests the katamigawari style of decorating two contrasting grounds or composition on kimono; and the cutaway sides of the rim were highly original at the time for a ceramic vessel. 

Oribe ware is thought to be the conception of the eponymous daimyo Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), who rose to power by first serving as a vassal to Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), and then Totoyomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598). Oribe was known as a devoted aesthete and practiced the tea ceremony with Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591). The austere style of Rikyu’s black Raku ware supplies stark contrast to the later developments of Oribe ware. Although the forms of each style share similarity in their informality, Oribe ware has almost naïve decoration – there is a lightness and sense of play not found in the more serious tea ceremony vessels revered at the time of the Momoyama period (1573-1615).  

Yokoe Manjiro, also known as Chikken, was a renowned master of sencha (steeped green tea) from the Taisho (1912-1926) and Showa (1926-1989) periods. Chikken’s collection was dispersed at auction Osaka Bijutsu Club, Osaka, Yokoe Chikken zohin tenkan zuroku [Collection Catalogue of Yokoe Chikken], 9th June 1935.

For comparison, there is a Narumi Oribe type square dish with bride handle and stepped rim in Miyeko Murase ed., Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan (New York, 2003), no. 66, p. 146. 

來源

横江萬治郎（横江竹軒）收藏

大阪美術倶樂部，《竹軒藏品展觀圖錄》，大阪，1935年6月9日，編號348

出版

伊藤一郎編，《竹軒聚美帖》，1935年

小林忠編，《岡田美術館名品撰》，卷1，東京，2013年，編號58

此方盤核心紋飾以成對的實心黑圓紋與星狀白圓紋交錯構成，宛若懸浮於起伏波線之上。外折口緣處則以奔放筆觸揮灑鋸齒紋與條紋紋樣。整體效果渾然天成；積聚於三隅的綠釉深淺斑斕，呈現偶然天成之趣。儘管構圖不拘形式，提樑分叉處刻意模仿竹籃編織的粗獷質感，乃深思熟慮而成的特定美學理念。紋飾的二分構圖暗合和服「片身替」裝飾美學；而口沿側面切削處理，於當時陶瓷器皿中堪稱獨創。

織部燒被認為源於同名大名古田織部（1544-1615）的審美理念，其早年侍奉織田信長（1534-1582），於本能寺之變後轉仕豐臣秀吉（1537-1598）。織部以傾心美學聞名，曾與千利休（1522-1591）共同鑽研茶道。利休黑對茶器凝練的寂寥美學，與後世織部燒之發展形成鮮明對照。雖兩類器形在非正式風格上頗具共通性，然織部燒裝飾近乎稚拙，蘊含當時桃山時期（1573-1615）嚴肅茶器中所未見之輕盈韻致與拙趣妙意。

橫江萬次郎（號竹軒）為大正（1912-1926）與昭和（1926-1989）時期著名煎茶道大師。其舊藏曾於大阪美術俱樂部拍場釋出，專場出版《橫江竹軒藏品圖錄》，時在1935年6月9日。

可比較一例名古屋織部燒方形碟，配提樑及階式口沿，載見村瀨美惠子編，《Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan》，紐約，2003年，頁146，編號66。