Portable Dining Set with Dragons and Waves

This item is decorated with indigo-colored dragons and other Chinese-style motifs. It is an example of a sageju, or a tiered box with a handle for carrying. Used as picnic sets, sageju are commonly made of bamboo or other light materials, but this striking item is made of porcelain. It radiates a sense of playfulness and it must have been fun to appreciate and use. A closer look reveals patches of glaze missing from the corners. This is as you might expect from a well-used old implement, but these blemishes are actually there by design. Blue and white porcelain known as kosometsuke was produced in China during the Ming dynasty, which lasted from the mid-14th to mid-17th century. This porcelain sometimes had small cracks and blemishes on the surface due to the different shrinkage rates of the clay and glaze. This caught the attention and admiration of Japanese tea masters, who saw aesthetic value in these signs of wear and tear.

This item on display is meant to resemble this kind of porcelain, which is why the glaze was deliberately removed from some sections after the box was produced. It was created by Aoki Mokubei, a renowned producer of Kyoto ware ceramics. Mokubei was more of a scholar and a hobbyist than an artisan. He produced a wide variety of items based on his study of ceramics from China and the Korean Peninsula. Mokubei's sophisticated sense of playfulness and curiosity is on full display in this box, which is like a reproduction, achieved through his outstanding techniques, of an ancient style of Chinese porcelain. This unusual picnic set was created by the scholar-artist Aoki Mokubei (1767–1833). Picnic sets were typically made of bamboo or other lightweight materials, but Mokubei chose the medium of porcelain. He painted the surface with Chinese-style decoration and intentionally chipped the edges for an imperfect look.

— Museum description: Tokyo National Museum (CC BY 4.0), via ColBase / Japan Search.