Tokkuri or sake bottle of Seto stoneware, ornamented with a karakusa or scrolling grass design in under-glaze iron-oxide. Mid Edo period, 18th century.

A slightly smaller example of this type of Seto is in the collections of the Nihon Mingeikan (Japan Folkcrafts Museum), and it is illustrated in their 1982 catalogue Mingei Taikan, Dai-ichi Maki, To Ji Jo (Folkcraft Masterpieces, Volume I: Ceramics & Porcelains, Part 1 of 2), number 142.

This tokkuri was formerly in the Keisuke Serizawa Collection.

An extremely rare example of Seto, displaying the playful abstraction and vibrant painting emblematic of the best Japanese folk ceramics from the Edo period.