{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O14557"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O14557/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG0034/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG0034/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BG0034","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AN4391","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O14557/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O14557","accessionNumber":"FE.20-1984","objectType":"Jar","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This jar was made at Shigaraki, a well-known Japanese pottery centre that produced large unglazed storage vessels and other utilitarian ceramics from the twelfth century onwards. Its rugged contours are due to the potter having built up the shape in several stages, while the streak of pale green glaze is the outcome of flying ash settling and melting during firing, and the orange hue the result of oxidation of the iron content of the clay body. From the end of the fifteenth century Shigaraki wares began to attract the attention of devotees of the tea ceremony, who discerned in them a rustic beauty very different from the elegance of the imported Chinese ceramics favoured as tea utensils up until that time.\r\n\r\nThere is a famous letter written by the tea master Murata Shuko (1423-1502) to one of his disciples in which he commented on the 'chilled and withered' ('hiekaruru' in Japanese) qualities of Shigaraki (and Bizen) wares, advocating that these could be employed to great effect when combined with the quiet perfection of imported Chinese ceramics. He also, however, warned that the deployment of Shigaraki wares in the tea room should be left to people well versed in aesthetic matters and should not be dabbled with by amateurs and novices. The preference, or rather the ascribing of greater value to the unfinished or incomplete, has its roots in Japanese literary and poetic traditions, and is one of the key features of what came to be known as the 'wabi' aesthetic.\r\n\r\nMiwataseba\r\nMomiji mo hana mo\r\nNakarikeri\r\nUra no tomoya no\r\nAki no yugure\r\n\r\nNowhere can be seen a blossom or a reddening maple leaf - a small hut beside the shore on an autumn evening","physicalDescription":"Narrow-necked jar with partially broken mouth, angular profile, distinctive orange colouration, and wide streak of pale green natural ash glaze running down one side","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"stoneware","id":"x30197"}],"techniques":[{"text":"unglazed","id":"x44601"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Stoneware, coil-built body and thrown mouthrim, with natural ash glaze","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Stoneware","id":"THES48890"}],"styles":[{"text":"Muromachi","id":"AAT18561"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2006BG0034","2006AN4391"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"145 (VA)","id":"THES49865"},"free":"","case":"47","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Jar","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Shigaraki","id":"x32492"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1400-1450","earliest":"1400-01-01","latest":"1450-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"49.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Jar, stoneware with natural ash glaze, Japan, Shigaraki kilns, 1400-1450","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Liefkes, Reino and Hilary Young (eds.) <u>Masterpieces of World Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>. London: V&A Publishing, 2008, pp. 54-55."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Broken-mouthed jar\r\nJapan, Shigaraki kilns\r\n1400–50\r\n\r\nThis jar possesses a rugged beauty long prized in Japanese aesthetics. Three ridges reveal that it was made by the coiling method, not on a potter’s wheel. The cracking and pitting were caused by the uneven melting of minerals in the clay and the burning off of organic matter. The streaky glaze was created naturally by wood ash in the kiln. The broken mouth signals its everyday use in the past.\r\n\r\nStoneware, with natural ash glaze\r\n\r\nMuseum no. FE.20-1984","date":{"text":"September 2009","earliest":"2009-09-01","latest":"2009-09-30"}}],"partNumbers":["FE.20-1984"],"accessionNumberNum":"20","accessionNumberPrefix":"FE","accessionYear":1984,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LT6429","2019LW9216"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}