A Katakuchi lipped bowl of Mugiwara-de design, fired at Seto during the late Edo period. The generously proportioned vessel is encircled with alternating stripes of vermilion Aka-raku glaze and cobalt blue. Small areas of copper-red shinsa have emerged naturally around the rim during firing, adding unexpected accents of colour to the composition.

The vertically striped Mugiwara-de (“wheat-straw”) design is thought to have been inherited from Kyo ware before developing into a distinctive Seto idiom. The Kyo ware itself has been associated with the striped decoration of imported European glassware, lending the motif a subtle sense of novelty that seems almost to anticipate Japan’s later encounter with the West. Long and devoted use has allowed a rich patina to develop across the surface, where stains accumulated over time have become an integral part of the vessel’s character. Combined with the practical form of the Katakuchi lipped bowl, these traces of use endow the bowl with a beauty shaped by everyday life.

There are no notable defects, and the condition is good. Accompanied by a fitted wooden storage box.