Posted 6 years ago
getthatmon…
(676 items)
A nicely patinated japanese copper serving kettle used for serving hot and cold tea.
with pegonies and cranes on the outside and a nice flower bud handle.
it is signed underneath, but unfortunately i wasn't able to get it translated untill now...
i've read different names for kettles while trying to get some informations about my one...
(testsubin, dobin, mingei,...)
haven't been able to find this particular model yet...
i saw similar pieces to be from the edo period others meji period
anybody knows what stands underneath and how old it is?
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I think this is late Meiji, early 20th. It is not meant for heating on a brazier, but perhaps, a decorative container for warm sake. Size would help to identify. The decorations are the symbolic summer lotus pad and pond motif. Don't recognize the mark. It is an excellent copper piece, seems to have been polished to some degree the patina should be dark brown by now.
hi thruthordare
it's a smaller piece... made a picture which shows... 12cm in diameter
Wow, what a stunner! You really have a gorgeous item there.
The stamp on the base is shown upside down. It is the family name Ono (also transliterated Ohno). If you consult the Wikipedia article on this name -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ono_(surname) - which shows 2 different ways of writing the name in Japanese characters, this stamp bears the first of those 2 options. So my guess is that this piece was crafted by a metalworker with the family name or "surname" Ono :)
By the way, does the crane-and-flower design run on both sides of the kettle, or on the one side only?
I agree with truthordare, those flowers are definitely lotuses; the leaves are very distinctive. The lid is decorated with a ring of shippo circles - shippo meaning "seven treasures" (an auspicious design). And I'm sure you've noticed that the knob on the lid is a beautifully sculpted sakura blossom.
By the way, tetsubin are not always cast iron. Tetsubin with handles are used in certain Japanese ceremonies featuring the furo or brazier, and they are sometimes made of copper, bronze or other metals of lighter weight. I don't believe this is the case with yours, which is really too small for the tearoom; but I'm mentioning it since nowadays we mostly hear about tetsubin made of iron! Maybe yours may be intended for home use, perhaps for heating water for steeping fine teas such as high-grade sencha and gyokuro, which are drunk in smaller quantities. If I have a chance to ask my Japanese friends about this, I will.
Just a correction to that long note... the family name reflected in the stamp on the base is Ono but it is not "also" transliterated Ohno... in this case, the first of the two characters means 'small' and the O- is a short-o sound. (A near-identical surname is spelled with a different character that means 'large' and that is the version that takes the long-o sound.) The two family names are often transliterated as Ono in English, and to our western ears they may sound near-identical, but they are not considered to be homonyms by Japanese speakers.
Mentioned not just because it was an error in my note, but because it's a critical distinction to make should you ever try to identify the kettle's maker more closely.