Description
Eto Uma Chawan, Kyo-yaki Tea Bowl (Matcha Chawan) with overglaze enamel painting of Shinme (Sacred Horse) and Arabesque Flowers brand new in December 2025 for 2026, The Year of the Horse, by Kyoto potter Morishita Shusai. H. 3"(7.875cm) X Dia. 4.5"(11.5cm), weight 257 grams. Comes with signed wooden box. The potter's kiln stamp appears on the bottom of the bowl outside of the foot ring. The white horse is elegantly painted, but showing the horse in lively motion, including the red and black horse trappings. The karakusa (arabesque) flowers and leaves are painted in vivid green, orange, and red overglaze enamels, and extend into the interior of the bowl. The horse represents "shinme", or sacred horses, that are presented to Shinto shrines as gifts, and ancient custom going back to the 8th Century. While this practice still exists today, it has also been partially replaced by horse statues, and later the wooden votive plaques (ema, "picture horses") more commonly seen at shrines today.
Morishita Shusai was born in 1952 in the Ide District of Southeast Kyoto, not far from the ea fields of Uji. He graduated from the Kyoto Prefectural Ceramic Training School in 1969, then wen on to study under Kato Josui I (the 1st generation). He has won several awards for his overglaze painting skills at the Overglaze Ceramic Art Exhibitions in Kyoto: Mayor's Award in 1982, Kyoto Ceramic Protection Association Award in 1987, Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry President's Award in 1991 and 1998, and the Tachikichi Award in 1991. He has also won an award at the Ceramic Painting Association's 30th annual exhibition in 1993.
He is a well-respected potter for his painting skills in a city and tradition of thousands of overglaze ceramic painters.