tenmokudai 天目台

A stand for a *tenmoku jawan 天目茶碗. Tenmoku 天目 stands were imported from China to support these narrow-footed bowls, but were often valued independently in the Muromachi period. When a guest received a tenmoku bowl of tea, he removed the bowl from and returned it to the stand. In some later tea schools, a plain wooden stand was used once and discarded. More typical are elaborate tenmokudai of carved and lacquered wood, utilizing *raden 螺鈿, *guri 屈輪 and tsuikoku 堆黒 techniques. The matching of tenmokudai with the appropriate tenmoku jawan was a sign of taste in daimyō 大名 culture.