Fresh Water Jar (Mizusashi) with Bamboo

This Mizusashi (water jar) was made for use in the tea ceremony to hold fresh water. Japanese porcelain manufacture, which developed much later than that of China, flourished on the island of Kyushu in the last decades of the 17th century. The family-run Hirado kilns were one of the few to produce innovative wares of the highest quality in the 18th century.