Monday, October 27, 2008

Chung Jung Ho Tea Bowl Style












This bowl is a Chung Jung Ho or Big Edo style tea bowl. This style of bowl differs from the Jung Ho (Edo) style in only its size and shape. Big Edo tea bowls are noticeably larger than Edo bowls, forgoing a bit of their soft gracefulness for sturdy grandioseness. When cupping the Big Edo bowl in one's hands it relays a sense of empowerment.

The other difference is its shape. The side body of Big Edo style tea bowls display a steeper incline than Edo style bowls. This effect makes this bowl less subtle than Edo style bowls. Consequently, when one drinks from a Big Edo bowl the tea embraces the mouth less gracefully and slightly more forcefully due to this difference.

This bowl pictured is a wonderful Big Edo style piece by ceramic master Jung Jum Gyo.

Peace

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Matt,
Your blog is a very good surprise for me,i was invited this year at the Mungyong teabol festival and when i read your blog and see the pots your choose, i can go back to my studio and work more and more to make better pots for tea.
What is the firing temperature of this Edo tea bol ? 1230° or less ?

David from France

Matt said...

David,

One has never been to that festival although it sounds like a great way to experience many tea bowls.

Jung Gum Gyo's bowls emit a high note when struck and their walls are very thin. This suggests that he fired this bowl at a temperature above 1230 degrees. As you probably know often these masters make thousands or tens of thousands of tea bowls every year and then smash all but a select few. Often some don't even make it through the firing process without cracking in the high heat of the kiln.

Peace

geneviève meylan said...

I like specially the proportions between the foot and the cup! And the shino glaze is....wonderfull !

Matt said...

Ginkgo,

Yes, agreed. The proportion of the bowls body to its foot seems quite right. One also really loves the glaze and the tares in it that leave the bowl open to the whims of water spiders.

Peace