The interior of this weathered wooden basin gleams like obsidian, the rim covered in droplets of pure gold It comes enclosed in a box annotated by the great literatus Tomioka Tessai titled Jindai Sugi Kashiki. It is 32 cm (13 inches) diameter, 7 cm (3 inches) tall and in excellent condition. The long inscription within is written in old Japanese but states the bowl is associated with a piece held in the collection of the Shosoin Imperial Repository in Nara.
Tomioka Tessai (1837-1924) was a scholar artist trained from age seven in the traditional Confucian manner. After the death of his father he was apprenticed to a Shinto shrine, and later was forced to escape the capitol to Kyushu to avoid arrest for anti-governmental actions he had taken on part of the Imperial cause. Here he began serious study of Literati painting and furthered his scholarly research. Upon returning to Kyoto he was befriended by and moved to work under Otagaki Rengetsu, from whom he was heavily influenced. He helped to establish the Nihon Nanga-In and held a number of important positions, culminating in being appointed the official painter of the Emperor and a member of the Imperial Art Academy; the highest honor in Japanese Art circles. He is represented in innumerable important collections. Information on this important person is readily available, for more see Scholar Painters of Japan by Cahill (1972), Roberts Dictionary, or a quick internet search will find plenty of reading. He is held in the Tokyo National Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Kyoto, V&A etc…
