An elongated gourd twisting like a dragon in the sky, with a brass lined hollow for inserting flowers bound by purple chord so as to act as a hanging vase. It is 55 x 11.5 x 27 cm (roughly 22 x 4-1/2 x 11 inches) not including the chord, and is in excellent condition, enclosed in a period wooden storage box. This is perfect for the humble entrance of a tea room or a scholars studio.
Gourds occupied much the same place in the Japanese bunjin and sencha tradition as rootwood and bamboo. Admired for their naturally elegant and often eccentric forms, they required remarkably little intervention: once dried, a gourd was already a hollow vessel shaped entirely by nature. Influenced by the Chinese literati's fascination with natural curiosities and the imagery of Daoist immortals, Japanese scholars valued gourds as tea utensils, medicine flasks, and objects of contemplation. Over time their surfaces mellowed to rich amber tones through handling and age, acquiring the same treasured patina found on old bamboo and rootwood. Together, these materials expressed a central ideal of the literati aesthetic—the belief that the highest art sometimes lies not in transforming nature, but in recognizing and preserving the forms that nature has already created.
