Black Raku Tea Bowl

This tea bowl (chawan) by the living artist Unryūan, references the shape and texture of prized Raku ware ceramic tea bowls. Raku tea bowls are formed by hand, so each bowl is a unique creation meant to conform to the user’s grip. As lacquer is a far less pliable substance than clay, Unryūan mimicked the contoured shape of the ceramic bowl by carving out the wooden core of the bowl, and using the dry lacquer technique (kanshitsu) to give the bowl its subtle form. Dry lacquer involves soaking a piece of cloth in lacquer, then molding it over the substrate as desired. To give the bowl its final mottled, glaze-like appearance, the artist used kawari-nuri, a technique that uses dry, ground up dustings of lacquer to create the speckled surface of the bowl.