Auspicious

This unique blue-and-white porcelain was fired at the Jingdezhen Kilns in China during the Chongzhen period (1628-1644) at the end of the Ming dynasty, in response to a Japanese order. It is a fine piece of pottery with a vivid blue-and-white design on a dense white porcelain base, and has the inscription "Made by Goro Taiho Wu Xianzui" written on the bottom, so it is commonly referred to as Xianzui in Japan. Many of the relics are Japanese wabi tea utensils, ranging from large works of water jars and soribachi (rice bowls) to tea utensils such as tea bowls, incense containers, tea utensils, and tea cloth tubes, as well as kaiseki utensils such as tokkuri (sake bottles), sake cups, pedestal bowls, hand bowls, flower bowls, mukouzuke (present-style dinnerware), and plates, as well as the occasional piece of stationery such as incense burners, candlesticks, and paperweights.

Judging from their shapes, they were all clearly made specifically for Japanese tea masters, and while the shapes were made to order, the painted patterns were almost all based on the Chinese originals, incorporating Chinese designs, which seems to have been the inspiration of tea masters seeking the unusual. When some of these patterns are painted with overglaze colors such as green and red, they are called overglaze auspicious. The inscription "Wulang Dafu Wu Auspicious" means that the eldest son of the fifth son of the Wu family, and it is assumed that they were made by a Jingdezhen potter with the surname Wu. The Tekisui Museum in Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, houses a blue and white tea towel container with an inscription dated 1635, believed to have been made in the final period of the Ming Dynasty.

[Yoshiaki Yabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、景徳鎮窯(けいとくちんよう)で明(みん)代末期の崇禎(すうてい)年間（1628～1644）、日本からの注文によって焼造された異色な染付磁器。緻密(ちみつ)な白磁胎に鮮やかな青藍(せいらん)色の染付で文様を表した上質な焼物で、作品の底に「五良大甫呉祥瑞造(ごろうたいほごしょんずいぞう)」という染付銘があるところから、日本では一般に祥瑞と称している。遺品の多くは日本のわび茶の道具で占められ、水指、反鉢(そりばち)の大作から、茶碗(ちゃわん)、香合(こうごう)、茶器、茶巾(ちゃきん)筒などの茶具、徳利、酒呑(ぐいのみ)、台鉢、手鉢、輪花鉢、向付(むこうづけ)、皿などの懐石道具があるほか、まれに香炉、燭台(しょくだい)、書鎮などの文房具もある。

　いずれも造形からみて明らかに日本の茶人のための特製品であり、形は注文に応じながら、絵付の文様はほとんどすべて中国原図に従って、中国意匠を盛っているところに、奇をねらう茶人の着想があったようである。この文様の一部に緑・赤などの上絵彩を施したものは色絵祥瑞ともいう。また銘文の「五良大甫呉祥瑞」とは呉家の家の五男の長子という意味であり、呉姓を名のる景徳鎮陶工の作であると推測される。兵庫県芦屋(あしや)市の滴翠(てきすい)美術館には、明最末期の作とされる崇禎8年（1635）銘の染付茶巾筒が蔵されている。

［矢部良明］

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