Mizusashi: Japanese Water Jars

The water jar (mizusashi), usually made of ceramic, has a significant role in the Japanese chanoyu tea gathering. The sixteen mizusashi in this exhibition are on loan from Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz, who have one of the finest, most extensive collections of contemporary Japanese ceramics in the U.S. The water jars on view demonstrate the wide range of aesthetic interpretations that 20th-century and contemporary Japanese artists have made, melding tradition and innovation.

Highlights include a rough 1929 Shigaraki-clay stoneware covered jar by the famous potter Kitaoji Rosanjin (1883-1959), a ca. 1978 jar with overglaze enamels with a lacquer lid by Kiyomizu Rokubei VI (1901-1980), and a 2015 pumpkin-shaped water jar by Katsumata Chieko (b. 1950), who has become well-known for her playful, undulating biomorphic forms that challenge traditional Japanese notions about the ceramic medium and vessel forms. 

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website