Diameter : 6 1/2 inches (16.5cm)
14 -15th Century AD

Provenance:

A private collection

For the last 10 years,Vietnam has been building its own identity and dignity; and is now opening up to the entire world. The Vietnamese were, and still are, extremely conscious of the extent to which ancient ceramics (referred to as Annan wares) define their unique culture. Ruled by China for thousands of years, the Vietnamese were exposed to the Chinese cultural artifacts and extensive export businesses, especially with Japan.This is a typical piece that was produced for Japanese aesthetics and greatly favored for the Japanese tea ceremony - Chanoyu.When hosting formal tea, it is suggested to be used, when serving Kaiseki formal meal, for containing pickles, right before Koicha (tick tea) is being served.

A bowl with a freely carved floral rim, molded with eight panels of lotus flowers, four lotus in full bloom and four lotus with three layers of lotus leaves, lotus pod in well, it has a rustic brown glaze.

Please refer to my Publications Review article on this piece in ORIENTATIONS The Magazine for Collectors and Connoisseurs of Asian Art September, 2008 and another article (my first time interview as a foreign designer) in Vietnam Airlines Inflight Magazine - Inspiring Voyage. Refer to a very similar example in this book - Vietnamese Ceramics: A Separate Tradition by John Stevenson and John Guy (published by Art Media Resources with Avery Press 1997) on page 278, item no. 195. Also refer to another book - Japanese and Chinese Ceramics Used in the Japanese Tea Ceremony by Hiromu Honda and Noriki Shimazu - published in the United States by Oxford University Press, New York (first published in Japan as Old Ceramics from South Seas), 1989, on page 80, item no 66. Another similar example can also be found in The Rokefeller Collection at the The Asia Society and Museum