Very rare Raku Kichizaemon IV Ichinyu (1640-1696) black Raku tea bowl.
Comes with an old signed box.

Having become Raku master at the age of 16, Ichinyu was significantly influenced by his father Donyu who died at 58. In general his works are powerful, large in scale but with thin surfaces and bold incisions made with spatula.

In later years he appeared to revert to the style of Chojiro, making compact tea bowls with smaller dimensions and few spatula marks. Ichinyu himself may have felt he had much to learn from the style of Chojiro but it is also likely that the Rikyu revival going on at the time had a strong influence.

The centennial of Rikyu's death was marked in 1690, there was increasingly enthusiastic reappraisal of his philosophy and of the rustic, austere tea aesthetic he advocated, creating a strong demand for Rikyu-style tea utensils. In this environment, there must also have been growing demand for Chojiro-style bowls, who was strongly aligned with the principles of Sen no Rikyu.

Diameter 12cm
Height 7cm

Condition
There are old lacquer repairs at the rim. No cracks. No chips.