Camellia Rice bowl

A rice bowl with depictions of camellias from Tajimi City, Gifu Prefecture.

£42 per item

This rice bowl from Zōhō-gama, a kiln in Tajima City, features a dynamic depiction of camellia flowers in the kiln’s signature sennichi-zuri, a red pigment created from glaze that is first pulverised into a fine powder over the course of 1000 days. The fine particles of the powder create a rich tone of muted red that will develop and deepen over the years.
The camelia, a recurrent motif for Zōhō-gama, symbolizes longevity, a meaning that flows from the prolonged life of the evergreen shrub and its long-blooming flower. The bowl is an example of aka-e, ceramicware illustrated with various colours of overglaze such as red, blue, yellow, purple and green on top of a clear glaze, and a speciality of the kiln.
The design of the rice bowl has been extensively prototyped in advance, with over 200 versions being trialled to test its suitability for a contemporary lifestyle. As a result of this testing, the foot of the bowl was made relatively larger to increase the stability of the form, and the size of the body has been reduced so it can be comfortably held in one hand.

Handwash only.

Φ11×H6.5cm

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Chūbu
Region

Chūbu

中部

The central Chūbu region is predominantly mountainous, home to the rugged Japan Alps with coasts on both the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. The region's history has been shaped by its strategic position between the great cities of Kyoto and Tokyo with Nagoya at its heart. Niigata lies to the north while Mt Fuji can be found in the south in Shizuoka Prefecture.

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Zōhō-gama
Producer

Zōhō-gama

蔵珍窯

Established in 1970, Zōhō-gama crafts functional yet aesthetically pleasing ceramic pieces by hand at its base in Tajimi City, Gifu Prefecture. The workshop is renowned for the unique shade of red that is skillfully applied in hand-painted patterns to its pieces. This colour is often used to depict the camelia flower, a recurrent motif in the ceramics, that symbolizes longevity, reflecting the prolonged life of the evergreen shrub and its long-blooming nature.

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