A breathtaking all black Oribe-guro Tsutsu-chawan tea bowl of bold, vertical form in lustrous thick black glaze shot with rusted crawling windows of raw earth both inside and out. It is 11 cm (4-1/4 inches) diameter, 9 cm (3-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Oribe-guro developed from the Setoguro tradition of hikidashi-guro ("pulled-out black"), in which the bowl is removed from the kiln while still red-hot and rapidly cooled. This produces the characteristic deep, lustrous black surface. They are invariably undecorated. Think of them as black sculpture for tea. Kuro-Oribe is probably closer to Furuta Oribe's own aesthetic ideals than the green-glazed Ao-Oribe that most people today instinctively associate with "Oribe ware." Many of the most celebrated Momoyama tea bowls are Kuro-Oribe rather than green Oribe, reflecting the tea master's preference for bold asymmetry, dramatic contrasts, and painterly abstraction over bright color.
