Approximate size: W5.5″ by H2.6″ or 14.0 by 6.7 cm

This is an Agano chawan or ceremonial tea bowl with a dual kind of glaze. Foremost the characteristic green that is a tell tale sign of this type of pottery which is overlaid on a classic white ‘hakeme‘ or brush stroke design. The formations as seen on the edges of agano’s green glaze remind me of a famous, perhaps thé most famous fractal known as the mandelbrot set. The Mandelbrot set is a two-dimensional set with a relatively simple definition that exhibits great complexity, especially as it is magnified where curiously it continually repeats itself at all levels. This chawan is a particularly fine example.

Agano ware is made in what is modern day Fukuoka prefecture. Specifically it is said to have arose in 1602, in and around Fukuchi, Kawara and Ōtō town, in Tagawa district. It was counted as one of the Enshū nana gama during the Edo period because it was loved by tea masters and enthusiasts alike. Agano ware specializes lie in its variety of enamels used and yohen effects which are changes natural patterns produced by the glaze interacting with the fires of the kiln.

Old Agano ware chawan are are mostly mumei (unsigned or without any maker’s mark). Few are signed with potter’s name and there are even fewer which bear a date. Starting at the end of the Edo period the Agano ware was being marked with the spiral or ‘tomoe‘.

Until the early 17th century, right-handedness and left-handedness coexisted and were not constant, although a study reported that the left-handedness was constant for works in the upper part of the pottery between 1804 and 1830. Later, after the Meiji era, the style was changed to a kiln marking.