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Soma Ware Teacup, Eight Horses
Handmade
New
£24.00
Sale price
£24.00
Regular price
Taxes included.
Details
Material:
Ceramic
Obori Soma-大堀相馬焼
Dimensions:
Width: 7.2cm
Height: 9cm
Volume: 150ml
Care instructions
Special
At a glance
- Obori Soma ware (大堀相馬焼), a nationally designated traditional craft; Matsunaga Kiln, Fukushima Prefecture, founded circa 1700 in the Genroku era (1688 to 1704)
- Eight horses fan outward around a central sakauma (左馬) character at the base; together they spell a pun, umaku iku (馬九行久), meaning things will go well, a design made specifically to invite good fortune
- Approx. dia. 7.2 x 9cm, 150ml; single walled
Obori Soma ware is a nationally designated traditional craft, founded around 1700 in the Genroku era (1688 to 1704) by a domain retainer's servant named Sama, with support from the Soma clan; at its peak the tradition supported more than 100 kiln households in what is now Namie, Fukushima. Two features mark it out from anywhere else: aohibi (青ひび), a fine blue crackle across a celadon like glaze, and hashirigoma (走り駒), a running horse painted in the classical Kano school style.
Matsunaga Kiln's own line runs back to its first generation, Kanpei, who opened the kiln in the Genroku era; the fifth generation, Masata, discovered a new glaze in 1873 and made his own mark on Obori's ceramic history, and the kiln was reopened by his descendant Shigeo in 1910 after a period of closure. The 2011 disaster forced an evacuation that closed the original Namie workshop entirely; Matsunaga Kiln worked from Nasu, Tochigi, for a time before building a new workshop in Nishigo Village, Fukushima, in April 2014, where it continues today.
This particular cup carries eight horses, fanning outward around a central sakauma (左馬) character painted at the base. Together they spell a pun, umaku iku (馬九行久), meaning things will go well, in a design made specifically to invite good fortune. Eight is no accident either, an already auspicious number in Japan, one that fans wider toward its base the way the character itself is written.
At 150ml, it suits a strong tea or a quiet coffee on its own, a single walled cup rather than the double walled construction used on some of Matsunaga Kiln's other pieces.
