Arita’s Thousand Lines
Arita is the birthplace of Japanese porcelain, where blue-and-white sometsuke has been produced since the early 1600s. This lidded bowl comes from one of Arita’s most respected workshops, where each piece is made entirely by hand. Fine cobalt rings encircle the bowl and lid, while inside, the kiln’s nami-zakura motif—a band of cresting waves scattered with cherry blossoms—runs beneath an iron-brown rim.
Shaped by Arita’s Legacy: This piece also comes from Arita ware, Japan’s first porcelain tradition. Prized for its luminous white body and refined hand-painted details, embodying the harmony of precision and quiet beauty.
Learn more → Discover the Art and Craftsmanship of Arita Ware Porcelain
One Lid, Two Faces
Only the lid had broken; the bowl itself survived untouched. Rio Hashimoto, a lacquer artist with a Master’s degree in Lacquer Arts from Kyoto City University of Arts, restored it over four months in layers of food-safe natural urushi. She applied 24K gold powder in traditional maki-e and finished the seams through roiro, the highest grade of urushi finishing, for a smooth, deep luster. For a playful surprise, the lid interior was finished in green urushi with tiny blue-lacquer triangles in several places. From the knob, the seam descends across the cobalt rings to the edge and divides once; turned over, it reappears in green.
When the Lid Turns
Two living Japanese traditions meet here: the sometsuke porcelain of Arita and the urushi craft of authentic kintsugi. Traced across the blue rings, the fracture has become part of the lid’s design; turn it over, and the same line returns in green, creating a two-sided composition no other vessel could repeat. To welcome it into your collection is to share in the continuing custody of two crafts still practiced in Japan, and to carry their story forward.
