Tea bowl

The bowl is complete. It is circular in shape. It has a slightly flared wall, a straight rim and a domed top. It rests on a truncated cone-shaped foot. The base is recessed and flat. The foot is free of glaze. The glaze has been wiped from the inside of the foot. There is an incised ring under the base and a mark: C, a crescent that appears solid in blue. The inner base has numerous intersecting linear marks, and the glaze is amatized; the decoration is transfer printed and hand-painted; it is blue in color and features the Fence motif. The painted decoration is located under the inner rim: it consists of two superimposed horizontal rings. The printed decoration is visible on both the outer wall and the inner base. On the outer wall, it is distributed over three aligned zones. The main decoration consists of a fence made up of a few sections: some are straight, while others are arranged in a zig-zag pattern. The fence sections are cross-hatched, with a small, three-lobed opening in the center. A rock borders the fence to the right. Leafy and flowering plant stems of varying scales adjoin the fence, including a long stem extending to the left; they are cross-hatched. To the left of the fence extends a small terrace made of a wavy line and covered with grass; it joins a long rock with two heads, one of which is surmounted by three trees, while the other portion is surmounted by three curved plant stems of reed or bamboo. On the opposite side are two different scenes. One is an island with an elongated, cross-hatched shape. It is topped by a straw-roofed hut topped by a cross, and adjoined by three trees; a rock borders the island at water level. Waves made of horizontal lines strike the island and the rock. Two stylized plant elements stand out at the foot of the island, and two small rocks emerge from the water. Two birds fly from the island; seen in profile to the right, they follow each other. The wings of one point up and down, while those of the other point back. In the center of the background, a sheaf of leafy stems is decorated with two different flowers and hatching.