Ōtagaki Rengetsu
(1791-1875)

Ceramic wall vase


20 cm high

Provenance: Italian private collection.
This type of flower vase (hanaire) is usually placed in the tokonoma, that aedicule which in traditional Japanese houses is dedicated to the display of particularly admired objects and works of art.
The incised poem can be translated as follows:

“I swept away
the dust of the world
I have what I need
for the rest of my days
the sound of the wind amidst pines"

The author is Ōtagaki Rengetsu herself who also modeled the vase. She was therefore a poet, a ceramist and a calligrapher, one of the most popular Japanese artists of all time. After some unfortunate events, at the age of thirty-three she decided to become a Buddhist nun, simultaneously dedicating herself to the arts she preferred.