Since the Asuka period (538–710), Chinese art and material culture, collectively referred to in Japan as karamono, have exerted a profound influence on Japanese taste. Among the most compelling fruits of this cultural admiration is kosometsuke, a class of blue and white porcelain produced mostly at Jingdezhen in the early 17th century, specifically for the Japanese market during a pivotal moment in both Chinese and Japanese ceramic history.

During the brief Tianqi reign (1620–1627), during the Ming dynasty’s final, turbulent decades, Imperial oversight of Jingdezhen’s kilns waned. Freed from the rigid formalities of court taste, the potters at Jingdezhen were able to take on new forms of patronage. Among their clients were Japanese tea masters, some of whom were also shipping merchants actively engaged in trade with China. These merchant-aesthetes began commissioning porcelain not for Chinese tables, but for Japanese tea practice and related culinary arts, sending sketches, models, and instructions that directly informed the form and decoration.

Archaeological excavations at Jingdezhen have uncovered shards of kosometsuke whose decoration and construction confirm these cross-cultural exchanges. Unlike classical Chinese blue and white made for domestic use, many pieces reflect unmistakably Japanese preferences: forms derived from Momoyama-period Oribe and Shino ceramics, a taste for asymmetry and warping (yugami), mushikui (“insect-eaten” fritting to the rim), and a desire for happy kiln accidents and brushwork spontaneity. These features were not seen as flaws, but rather expressions of the wabi-sabi (withered elegance) aesthetic that permeated the wabi-cha (wabi style of tea) philosophy championed by Murata Jukō (1423-1502), Takeno Jōō (1502-1555), Sen no Rikyū (1522-1591), and their successors.

This catalogue presents a curated selection of kosometsuke wares that reflect the breadth and nuance of these unique porcelains. Each section is devoted to a particular form central to tea ceremony and cha-kaiseki (multi-course tea ceremony dining), including mukozuke (first-course dish), kashibachi (heavy dish or tray for serving sweets), mizusashi (cold water jars) and kogo (incense containers).

I have designed the order of the sections to approximate their order of use during a classic chaji (a formal full-length tea gathering including kaiseki dining), so that you can be immersed in the feeling of the event.  This order includes the nakadachi (intermission), which takes place between the kaiseki and the koicha (thick tea)/usucha (thin tea) service, during which guests would be given the opportunity to smoke tobacco outside of the tea room with a kiseru, while the host would use incense to freshen the room and purify the space. 

However it is important to note that a cultured host would choose arts and wares for the chaji dictated by their concept of toriawase - the artful selection of art and implements to express seasonality, balance, subtle contrasts, humility, and the the host’s, as well as the guests’ personalities.  So, while this catalogue exclusively contains kosometsuke wares, guided by the host’s unique sensibility for toriawase, it may be that only one kosometsuke piece or set of mukozuke would be chosen for use in a chaji.

Though produced in China, kosometsuke is a deeply Japanese artform, created to fulfill Japan’s unique cultural needs and aesthetic ideals. These wares stand as rare and intimate documents of early 17th century cross-cultural exchange, and their influence continues to ripple through the world of design in Japanese ceramics to this day.

Forming this collection has been a personal journey - one that has deepened my appreciation not only of ceramics but of the philosophy and spirit that underpins Japanese art. I am pleased now to share these works with you, and I hope they offer the same sense of wonder and contemplation that first drew me to them.

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