Large Sumida Gawa Mug With Applied Sennin Figure, Signed Ryōsai — Inoue Ryōsai Workshop, Meiji

Substantial Sumida ware (隅田焼 / Sumida-gawa) mug, Japan, late Meiji to Taishō period, c. 1900–1920, signed Ryōsai (良斎) and attributed to the workshop of Inoue Ryōsai (井上良斎) — one of the most celebrated producers of Sumida ware.

Materials: dark-bodied earthenware, heavily ribbed and wheel-thrown, finished with the characteristic matte black Sumida slip (rather than the orange-red slip seen on other examples from the kiln). The upper third and interior are covered in a dramatic flambé glaze ranging through aubergine-black, amber, iron-yellow and plum-red, with irregular drips running down the ribbed body — a kiln effect prized by the Ryōsai workshop. The hand-pulled handle, modeled as a gnarled branch, is covered in the same flowing amber-black flambé glaze. The applied decoration combines modeled earthenware (face, hands, feet) with porcelain fragments in underglaze cobalt blue and white (robe, jar).

Subject: a sennin (仙人) — most likely Chōkarō Sennin (張果老), the Daoist immortal — depicted as a bald elderly figure with a deeply lined, expressive face modeled with remarkable realism, leaning over the rim of the mug. He wears a porcelain robe with blue-and-white floral motifs and grasps a large porcelain blue-and-white sake jar or gourd, resting on an amber-glazed support suggesting a rock or cloud. The figure is fully sculpted in high relief, his head rising above the lip of the mug.

Hallmark: applied porcelain cartouche on the reverse of the body, painted in underglaze cobalt blue with the cursive signature Ryōsai (良斎), characteristic of the Inoue Ryōsai workshop.

Dimensions: H 12.5 cm, D 8 cm. Weight 440 g.

Condition: honest age-related wear. Light surface abrasion and minor glaze nibbles to the ribbed ridges. The sennin and jar are intact, with no visible restoration. Glazed interior; holds liquid.