重ねて焼いた山茶碗の塊

Mountain tea bowls (yama-chawan) are simple, unglazed tablewares from the late Heian (794–1185) through the Muromachi (1392–1573) periods that were produced mainly in Aichi and Gifu Prefectures. The bowls were stacked in tall piles for firing—during which a natural ash glaze was formed—and occasionally fused together in the kiln as here. This accidental cluster was discarded at the time, but to a modern eye is almost sculptural in aesthetic.

Credit: Purchase, Olive Lam Fund, 1980