Path of the Teabowl

Meghen Jones, Guest Curator and Associate Professor of Art History, Alfred University

September 23, 2021 - March 27, 2022

What is a teabowl? How did it become an iconic ceramic art form? A millennium ago in China, Buddhist monks drank green tea from bowls with brown and black glazes. Later, in Korea and Japan, potters crafted teabowls of increasingly diverse designs, often intentionally asymmetrical. Treasured teabowls, if broken, were repaired with lacquer and gold. Ritual etiquette dictated the ways in which teabowls have been used to prepare and serve tea in East Asia. Today, around the world, people invent personal tea ceremonies. Contemporary artists create teabowls with a range of motivations, from channeling the classics to breaking new ground in forms and processes. Tracing the teabowl's path in Asia and beyond, this exhibition features over one hundred teabowls and related objects from the tenth through the twenty-first century.

Arakawa Toyozō, Red Shino ware teabowl with sea plovers, 1955–56, stoneware with glaze, 9.2 x 13 cm (3 5/8 x 5 1/8 in.) Collection of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz JC2013.015

Raku Kōnyū XII (Japanese, 1857–1932), Teabowl named Seppō (Snowy Peak), about 1900-30, Raku ware with black glaze, 10.8 x 9.8 cm (4 1/4 x 3 7/8 in.) Collection of the Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, Massachusetts 72.227

Cizhou-type ware bowl, China, about 1000-1200, stoneware with dark brown and black glaze, the rim with clear glaze over white slip, 5.1 x 12.1 cm (2 x 4 3/4 in.) Collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, gift of Dr. Alfred Greisman, Arts and Sciences, Class of 1955, and Mrs. Linda Greisman, by exchange, and gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leverett S. Woodworth, by exchange, with additional support from F. Eunice Shatzman, Class of 1949, and Herbert F. Shatzman, supplemented by the Lee C. Lee Fund for East Asian Art 2009.011

Jizhou ware teabowl, Jiangxi province, China, Song Dynasty (960-1279), stoneware with black and brown tortoiseshell glaze, 5.4 x 11.6 cm (2 1/8 x 4 9/16 in.) Collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Gift of Harry Lynch III 87.081.004

Jizhou ware teabowl with design of phoenix and plum blossoms, Jianxi province, China, 1100-1300, stoneware with brown and black glazes, 6 x 12.1 cm (2 3/8 x 4 3/4 in.) Collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, George and Mary Rockwell Collection 63.362

Deep footed bowl, Gyeongsangham, Korea, 1500-1600, stoneware with crackled creamy white glaze and gold lacquer repairs, 8 x 14 cm (3 3/16 x 5 9/16 in.) Collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan, transfer from the College of Architecture and Design 1972/2.75

Hayashi Kaku, Gen (Dignity), 2011, stoneware with brown and red iron glaze, 8.9 x 10.2 cm (3.5 x 4 in.) Collection of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz JC2011.025

Hagi ware teabowl, Japan, 1600-1700, stoneware with amber glaze and lacquer repairs, 8.6 x 11.4 cm (3 3/8 x 4 1/2 in.) Collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, acquired through the George and Mary Rockwell Fund, and gift of the Estate of Louise Taraldson Woods, by exchange, with additional support from Ellen Avril, and gift of Noyes Huston, Class of 1932, by exchange 2009.016.002

Matsui Toshio, Teabowl, 2015, ceramic with lacquer, 8.89 x 13.97 cm (3 ½ x 5 ½ in) Roger D. Corsaw Collection, Museum Purchase, ACAM 2015.15

Path of the Teabowl includes works from the permanent collection of the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum as well as important loans from the collections of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz, Marlin and Ginger Miller, Linda Sikora, the Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, Massachusetts, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Funding for the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum's Path of the Teabowl project, which includes the exhibition, a forthcoming catalogue, and an online international conference, has been provided by the Museum's Schein-Joseph Exhibition Fund and the Robert C. Turner Endowment Fund, with additional support from the Levine Endowment, created by Steve, AU' 61, and Michiko Levine to encourage and support the interaction of Alfred University and Asian cultures; the New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University School of Art Design; and a grant from the Northeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies, in conjunction with the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission.

Guest curated by Meghen Jones, Associate Professor of Art History, Alfred University