Tenmoku Series: Winter Tea Bowl

This tea bowl (Chawan) is one of Chee Yong's reduction-fired Tenmoku Series using local clay from NSW, Australia. Tenmoku tea bowls are particularly highly valued for tea ceremonies for their fortuitousness surrounding tenmoku pottery. The emphasis is on the ceramic glaze, where a number of distinct effects can be produced, some including an element of randomness that gives it such curious appeal. Depending on how the Artist manages the cooling down time for the firing, Tenmoku glazes can vary quite drastically in colour from dark plum, to yellow, brown, and or black, with oil spots, as in this case. 

A Tenmoku Chawan is a such coveted piece of pottery.

By Ang Chee Yong

Length:  12.3 cm

Width: 12.5 cm

Height:  8 cm

Weight:  439 g

Product Code: ACY2202-0009-1

Note: Tenmoku takes its name from the Tianmu Mountain (天目 Mandarin: tiān mù; Japanese: ten moku; English: Heaven's Eye) temple in China where iron-glazed bowls were used for tea. It is a type of Japanese pottery and porcelain that originates in imitating Chinese stoneware Jian ware (建盏) of the southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). Tenmokus are known for their variability. During their heating and cooling, several factors influence the formation of iron crystals (oil spots or hare fur) within the glaze.