Minneapolis Institute of Art

Tea caddy

Japan

Date

18th–19th century

Medium

Banko ware, glazed stoneware, lid: ivory

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

In the 1730s, a wealthy merchant and tea practitioner named Nunami Rōzan (1718–1777), in the town of Kuwana in Ise Province, began fashioning his own stoneware tea utensils inspired by the wares he saw coming from potters in Kyoto and farther afield. He stamped each of his works with one of two seals, one that read banko , meaning “eternal, ” and another that read banko fueki , meaning “eternal, constant.” He had no students of his own, but, several generations later, other local potters in Kuwana rediscovered Nunami Rōzan’s work and began creating their own pottery in his style. Their creations, like this tea caddy, came to be called “Banko ware” after Nunami’s seals. Japan, Asia

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