天目茶入，配有正倉院 有栖川 西陣 Shifuku - 石器 - 日本 - 昭和 / 平成 (1926-2019)

Tenmoku Chaire — Unknown Artist — With Shosoin Arisugawa Nishijin Shifuku

Product Details
A deep iron glaze covers the body from shoulder to foot, pooling in the heat of the kiln and settling into a surface that reads as near-black in shadow and opens toward brown at the edges.
Toward the center of the body, a concentration of blue-grey disperses across the dark ground — oil-spot firing, where iron compounds separate during the melt and rise to the surface as luminous flecks.
The effect does not repeat.
Each angle returns something different: depth, then warmth, then a momentary brightness where the blue catches light and holds it.
The form rises in a clean cylinder, slightly tapered at the shoulder, with proportions well-suited to formal tea practice.
The foot is left unglazed, exposing a pale, smooth stoneware clay with clear throwing rings visible on the base — the direct evidence of the wheel.
No seal mark is present.
The piece stands on its own terms.
The resin lid fits flush at the mouth, its ivory tone forming a quiet contrast to the dark body below.
What elevates this piece beyond the vessel itself is the shifuku — the protective silk bag — that accompanies it.
The fabric is Nishijin-ori, woven in Kyoto's historic textile district, and carries the classification of meibutsu-gire: textile patterns historically associated with celebrated tea utensils and the great collections of Japanese tea culture.
The specific pattern is Arisugawa-gire — named for the Arisugawa-no-miya imperial house — and derives from the ancient textile designs preserved in the Shosoin repository in Nara, the eighth-century imperial storehouse that holds some of the oldest surviving textile traditions in Japan.
A certificate strip inside the box confirms the weaver's authentication seal and the Nishijin-ori designation.
In the tea ceremony, a shifuku of this lineage does not merely protect — it contextualizes.

Artist Profile
This piece carries no seal mark and the maker remains unidentified.
The quality of the throwing, the control of the iron glaze, and the oil-spot effect place it within the tradition of skilled anonymous studio production — the kind of work that circulated through tea communities on the strength of the object itself rather than the name attached to it.
The accompanying shifuku, authenticated as Arisugawa-gire meibutsu-gire Nishijin-ori, indicates that at some point this chaire was regarded as worthy of a textile of that standing.

About Tenmoku Ware and Key Terms
What is Tenmoku?
Tenmoku refers to iron-glazed ceramics fired in reduction kilns, originally developed in the Jian workshops of Song Dynasty China. Japanese monks carried these vessels back from the continent during the Muromachi period, and they became the most prized objects in early Japanese tea culture. The name derives from Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang Province, where Japanese monks trained.

Oil-spot glaze
The blue-silver flecks visible on this piece result from iron compounds separating during the firing process and rising to the glaze surface as the temperature peaks. The distribution and intensity of these spots cannot be controlled precisely — each firing produces a unique result.

Shifuku
A shifuku is the silk bag made to house a tea caddy. In formal tea practice, the shifuku is considered an integral part of the utensil, and its textile pattern carries its own history and classification. Meibutsu-gire — "celebrated textile" — refers to patterns historically associated with prized tea objects and the great collections of Japanese tea culture.

Meibutsu-gire and Nishijin-ori
Nishijin-ori is the woven silk textile tradition of Kyoto's Nishijin district, known for its complex brocade techniques developed over more than a thousand years. Meibutsu-gire patterns reproduce textile designs associated with historic tea collections and imperial households. The Arisugawa pattern derives from designs preserved in the Shosoin, the eighth-century imperial repository in Nara.

Condition & Specifications
Condition: Excellent for age. No chips, cracks, or restoration. While this is a vintage piece, it shows no visible signs of use and retains its original appearance in outstanding condition.
Comes with original resin lid, Arisugawa-gire Nishijin-ori meibutsu-gire shifuku, and paper storage box with authentication strip.

Object: Tea caddy (Chaire)
Artist: Unknown (unsigned)
Glaze: Tenmoku — oil-spot iron glaze
Material: Stoneware
Dimensions: H 7.3 × W 5.3 cm
Weight: 82 g (body only); 131 g (with lid, shifuku, and box)
Seal mark: None
Accessories: Resin lid, Arisugawa-gire Nishijin-ori shifuku, paper storage box with authentication strip

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