Plate with grapevines, trellis, and geometric design

Japan

late 16th century

Mino ware, Nezumi-Shino type, stoneware with underglaze iron oxide

Minneapolis Institute of Art

美濃 Mino ware, 鼠志野 Nezumi Shino type; Formal tea gatherings are accompanied by <I>kaiseki</I>, multicourse communal meals at which dishes would be served on plates like this one, which was created by a potter in the Mino region of central Japan. Mino potters in the late 1500s produced a wide variety of innovative ceramic styles in quick succession, with each style swiftly arousing interest, but then just as quickly dying out—wares that included the now celebrated Black Seto, Yellow Seto, Oribe, and Shino styles. This plate represents a substyle of Shino ware known as Nezumi, or “mouse-gray” Shino. Potters created these wares by apply