Starfall: Jian Ware Yohen Tenmoku Bowl
Starfall: Jian Ware Yohen Tenmoku Bowl
Starfall
Jian Ware Yohen Tenmoku Bowl
Born in the dragon kilns of Fujian, the Tenmoku bowl was the chosen vessel of Song dynasty tea masters. Its yohen glaze — a cosmic dance of blue and violet — appears only when fire and clay align perfectly. One kiln yields few; each bowl is irreplicable.
The Story
A Bowl of Starlight
In the 12th century, Song dynasty monks carried Tenmoku bowls back from China to Japan, where they became treasured national treasures. The secret of yohen — "star-glaze" — was lost for seven hundred years. Today, master potters in Jianyang work to reclaim it, firing each bowl at 1300°C in dragon kilns and accepting that most will not survive.
What survives is a small universe held in the palm. Black as night, flecked with blue and violet, the glaze shifts color as you turn it — no two angles, no two bowls, ever the same.
Detail
Close Examination
In Context
The Art of Use
Specification
Craft & Material
Objects made to be held, used, and passed on.
Quiet luxury, built to last.