Bat kogo (Japanese incense container) | ||
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Posted 10 months ago
kwqd
(1122 items)
This stoneware incense container (kogo) is about 3 inches square x 1.75" high. It is marked on the bottom, but did not come with a box or anything else. I believe that the figure on top is a bat. Made to hold three pieces of incense for a tea ceremony. I have not tried to find out who made this, yet.
https://asianjournalusa.com/the-symbolic-meaning-of-bats-in-japanese-culture/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_utensils#Incense_container
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Gorgeous incense burner, the bat face design is great
Interesting glaze!
Thanks, Jenni! The first bat kogo I have seen, so box or no box, I had to have it!
Thanks, Karen. The glaze on this one has super color and texture.
Thanks for loving my bat box, vcal, DejaVu2, Drake47, Karen, Kevin, Jenni, Vynil33rpm, fortapache and dav2no1!
Thanks, sherrilou, Leelani and PhilDMorris!
Thanks for the kogo love, mikelv85!
Thanks, Cisum and Kevin!
Thsnks, Watchsearcher!
Thank you, kivatinitz!
Awesome kougou!
I've been wondering if this might be a somewhat abstract depiction of an oni or ogre/demon. If you rotate the photo 180 degrees, you can make out a mouth with sharp fangs at the bottom, staring eyes, and a nose. Mind you, oni are usually shown with 2 horns, so that is a point against this hypothesis ;) It's just that I've seen oni kougou used in the tearoom for Setsubun on Feb. 2, so it wouldn't be out of place there.
That said, I was able to find a reference to bats in Sasaki Sanmi's "A Japanese Tea Master's Almanac" -- he refers to it as a symbol suitable for the month of June, on the basis that "generally bats are seen from early summer through late June". So a bat is possible! It would be really great if you could find out who made it, as that could give some sort of more positive clue :)
P.S. That quote should be "early summer through late autumn." Whoops.
Thanks for your comments, rhineisfine! A demon is a possibility, but I vote "bat". Easier to see in person. Against that id is maybe because the signature is upside down if it is a bat.... Not made much of an attempt to id the potter...
well i don,t know ,very good suggestion of rhinefine, IMO maybe one of yokai = TENGU
personnaly i think rhineisfine suggestion is odds up = but oni point of is IMO a bit spurious
my chances are rising i see morphological, ( sharpness of the beak )
i am wrong lousy suggestion of me ( spread of the wings)
mind tengu ( the hatching part of it , ) SO NOT with the long nose
Thanks for the comments and analysis, waki! I can see two faces, now, depending on which way it is facing. Maybe that is the intent? I added an inset in image #2 to make it easier to see the other possibility. I have been meaning to dig this one out of storage and let is sit on a table for a time to see if my impressions change. Will also put some effort into determining who the make is.