A tea storage jar, Impressed seal Ninsei (Nonomura Ninsei, active circa 1640s-90s), Shigaraki style, Kyoto, Edo period, mid-late 17th century | 野々村仁清　茶壺　「仁清」（刻印）　信楽焼様式　江戸時代　17世紀中〜後期

Ninsei & Kenzan, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2017, exh. no.13 (unillustrated).

5th Anniversary Exhibition. All-Stars of the Okada Collection: Masterworks of Korin, Jakuchu, Hokusai and the Ru Ware Kilns, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2018-19, exh. no. 348 (unillustrated).

Ninsei is perhaps synonymous with the sophisticated stoneware vessels of Kyoto (Kyo-yaki) of which he predominantly produced. Born Nonumura Seiemon, he first practiced as a potter in the kilns of Seto before establishing his own kiln, the Omuro, in front of the temple grounds of Ninnaji in Kyoto around 1647. His artist name (go) derives from first characters of this temple (Nin) and his birth name (Sei). The tea connoisseur Kanamori Sowa (1584-1656), who practiced an aristocratic style of tea jocularly dubbed Hime Sowa, or Princess Sowa, was one of Ninsei’s most important patrons and guide in aesthetic matters.

Here, Ninsei approaches the rusticity of Shigaraki ware with a more metropolitan elegance than is usually expected in this style of agricultural storage vessel. The whitish natural ash glaze drips from the shoulders to create the jar’s keshiki, or ‘landscape’, falling unevenly across the reddish clay surface. Traces of the potter’s fingerprints used to adhere the mouldable clay for the four loop handles are visible at each end.

A similar tea storage jar by Ninsei is in the collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art, accession number 1978.6, go to:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1978.6

展覽

《仁清と乾山　京のやきものと絵画》，岡田美術館，箱根，2017年，展覽編號13（沒載圖）

《美のスターたち-光琳・若冲・北斎・汝窯など名品ぞろい-》，岡田美術館，箱根，2018年，展覽編號348（沒載圖）

仁清之名，可與京都陶器（京燒）精雅風骨之同義。本名野々村清右衛門，初於瀨戶窰習陶，約1647年在京都仁和寺境內創立御室窰。其雅號取自寺名首字「仁」與本名「清」字組合。茶道名家金森宗和（1584-1656年）正是仁清藝術發展歷程中至關重要的贊助者與美學導師，金森之貴族流儀茶風戲稱為「姬宗和」。

此作中，仁清以一種都市中才見得到的優雅來有詮釋信樂燒的朴拙風韻，而非用傳統農家瓶罐之類的拙氣來演繹。灰白天然釉自肩部垂淌，於赤褐陶胎上形成不均勻的「景色」紋理。罐身四端可見陶匠為固定圈形把手時留下的指痕。

克利夫蘭藝術博物館藏有一件仁清所作形制相近茶葉儲罐，典藏編號1978.6，詳見：https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1978.6