

Japanese Lacquerware Tea Caddy
Vintage Japanese Tea Ceremony Chu-Natsume | Kagawa Lacquer Tea Caddy
Age:1940s
Descriptive qualities& condition:
Dimensions: 2-1/2”dia. x 2-3/4”h
This Kagawa lacquer tea caddy is made using strips of bamboo on which lacquer of various colors is applied. This technique is used to emphasize the striped pattern, and also to provide an easy grip. Kagawa lacquerware has been made on Shikoku Island since the Edo period. This particular piece is modeled after a traditional Koma, (spinning top), design, and was made for serving matcha, (powdered) green tea.
Vintage Condition: Excellent as originally made. “As is” with no effects from aging, and retains the original craft/workmanship. Any discoloration, chipping/cracking, surface wear, or structural damage noted.
NOTE: Kagawa lacquer ware started at the end of the Edo period (1600-1868), by Tamakaji Zokoku, a famous lacquerer, who was born in what is now the city of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture. With the development of new applications that came into being by combining traditional Japanese techniques with skills such as “kinma” and “zonsei”, brought to Japan from Thailand and China, Kagawa lacquerware rose to Prominence in the 1830s.
Cha-no-yu, (literally hot water for tea) usually refers to either a single ceremony or ritual, while cha-ji or chakai, (literally tea meeting), refers to a full tea ceremony with kaiseki, (a light meal), usucha, (thin tea), and koicha, (thick tea), lasting approximately four hours.
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