Tea Caddy of the Katatsuki (square-shouldered) type; known as ‘Herame (pallet lines) Katatsuki’, O-meibutsu

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Explanation

This is a katatsuki type tea caddy which has been named “Herame Katatsuki” from the vertical lines incised around its body with a hera (spatula). It was presented to Tokugawa Ieyasu by a rich merchant of Sakai, and later became a treasured piece of the Tokugawa family of Kishū. The fine-grained, grayish-black clay body characteristic of Chinese wares is coated with a thin layer of a dark-toned amber glaze. The piece is extremely light in weight, though it is among the largest of Chinese tea caddies.