A set of five ko-sometuke dishes in lotus leaf design

The lotus is a sacred plant that symbolizes Buddhism.

It was also considered a symbol of fertility because of the way it thrives in ponds.

As with other arts and crafts, lotus motifs are often used in ”ko-sometsuke”, but the designs are diverse and not uniform.

This mukozuke is designed to look as if it were a lotus leaf itself.

Just imagining the dishes served on it is enough to make our hearts lift up in awe of its elegant appearance.

The gently curved rim is reminiscent of real leaves.

The veins of the leaves are left white using the ”sumi-hajiki” technique, and the entire surface is covered with blue glaze  by brush application.

The way the blue glaze is applied is also unrestrained.

The five pieces have different blue tones, creating an improvised charm.

On the outside, the white porcelain has been left untouched, and veins of leaves have been drawn in underglaze blue.

The contrast between the inside and outside enhances the shape of the dish and creates an elaborate design.

Ko-sometsuke was produced in the private kilns of Jingdezhen, China, in response to the requests of Japanese tea masters.

However, the production process was not necessarily based on a passive ordering system, whereby the pieces were made according to the orders of the Japanese.

It is thought that while tea masters communicated their preferences, the Jingdezhen potters on site were free to come up with new designs, which had a synergistic effect and produced a number of attractive pieces.

This kind of variant mukozuke is a work filled with the charm of ko-sometsuke, which is full of humor and humanity.

Each of the five pieces has some small peeling of glaze and old hairline cracks, which the tea ceremony masters liked.

The condition of the ko-sometsuka ware is not at all worrisome.

There are no particular points of concern when using it, and overall it is in very good condition.