Nabeshima Chinese Flowers Imari Nabeshima Ware Sakazuki Flat Sake Cup
This sakazuki flat sake cup is carefully decorated with the traditional karakusa, Chinese flowers, design using extremely fine brush strokes drawn by skilled craftsmen. The karakusa pattern is a floral pattern that was popular during the Tang Dynasty in China and was influenced by and prized in Japan during the Nara Period (710 CE–794 CE). It is a gorgeous design created by combining several types of plant motifs such as lotus flowers, palmettes, and peonies.
The inner surface of the sakazuki flat sake cup is decorated with the karakusa pattern, a classic Nabeshima pattern, while the reverse side is adorned with a cloisonne pattern and the side of the stand displays the iconic kushime, comb pattern, of Nabeshima ware.
The style of iro-Nabeshima has traditional rules, consisting of one color for sometsuke (indigo blue) and three colors for akae (red, yellow, and green). After the outline is drawn in indigo blue gosu pigment, overglaze painting in red, kibi (yellow), and moe (green) is used to color in the design. Although it may seem that many colors are used, in fact, only three are applied—a hallmark of iro-Nabeshima—and its beauty is regarded as the pinnacle of Japanese porcelain.
