Teacup from Tea Set with Chinese Landscape

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

The theme of this sencha tea set is the Chinese scholar-recluse in an idyllic landscape. Each of the five teacups has a landscape with an architectural structure and some human activity. This tea set has a side-handled pot called a kyūsu , used for steeping, straining, and serving tea. Unlike some others, this set also has a yuzamashi , a container used to cool boiled water to just the right temperature for the best flavor when steeping. Seifū Yohei III’s painting teacher, Tanomura Chokunyū (1814–1907), made a visual record of famous sencha events that shows how these kinds of porcelains fit with objects such as a stove and kettle to form a complete set of utensils for tea preparation, and with ensembles of decorative objects meant to inspire creativity This cup shows a man rowing a little skiff, which disturbs the otherwise still water. Behind him in the distance is an open-air pavilion. He is making his way toward a pair of figures playing a board game, much like the scene on the teapot. Down the hill from them is a residence; beyond this, a flock of geese approaches through the sky.