Less Than Perfect

Less Than Perfect

Crooked Beauty

Tea Bowl
  • Tea bowl
  • Kôyama Kiyoko (b. 1936)
  • Stoneware with natural ash glaze
  • Shigaraki, Japan, ca. 2000
  • Gift of the artist, UMMA 2010/1.215
Map

With its irregular glaze and visible inclusions on the rough, unglazed surfaces, this contemporary tea bowl by renowned potter Kôyama Kiyoko perfectly embodies the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi—beauty in imperfection.