Tea Bowl with Design of Moon and Autumn Grasses

Art Historical Context

This delicate tea bowl, crafted by Eiraku Hozen around 1825 during Japan's Edo period (1615–1868), exemplifies the refined artistry of Kyo ware from Kyoto. Eiraku, from a renowned family of potters, specialized in vibrant overglaze enamels and gold accents on crackled glazes, creating pieces that blend Japanese subtlety with Chinese-inspired elegance. Measuring just 2¾ inches with a wide rim ideal for whisking matcha, this low-fired ceramic was designed for the intimate ritual of chanoyu, the tea ceremony, where form and surface met the touch and steam of hot tea. The bowl's design features a luminous moon rising amid autumn grasses—likely swaying susuki pampas—evoking the transient beauty of the season. The crackled celadon glaze, shimmering with enamel colors and gold, catches light to mimic moonlight on dew-kissed plants, embodying wabi-sabi aesthetics of imperfection and nature's ephemerality. Such motifs symbolized harmony and contemplation, enhancing the sensory experience of tea gatherings among samurai and merchants. A gem from the H.O. Havemeyer Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this bowl highlights Edo-era ceramics' cultural role in fostering mindfulness and seasonal appreciation, inviting visitors to ponder its quiet poetry today.

About the Artist

Eiraku Hozen · 1795–1854

Eiraku Hozen (1795–1854) was a celebrated Japanese ceramic artist and the sixteenth-generation head of the Nishimura family, a Kyoto dynasty of potters whose work was closely associated with the tastes of the imperial court and the refined aesthetic culture of the ancient capital. Operating under the artistic name Eiraku — a name that would become synonymous with a particular style of elegant, tec...