• Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
    Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
  • Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
    Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
  • Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
    Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
  • Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
    Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
  • Saucer
    Saucer
  • Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
    Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
  • Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
    Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
  • Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
    Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
  • Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
    Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
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Hiroshi Taruta

Porcelain Hotaru-te Cup & Saucer

Porcelain Hotaru-te Cup & Saucer

¥26,000 JPY
¥26,000 JPY
Sale Sold out
Shipping within 1 week.
Shipping cost included in price. See shipping policy.
Style

Porcelain · Hotaru-te · Hiroshi Taruta · Seto

01 Linear Hotaru-te incisions glow with a soft blue — light made visible through carved porcelain
02 Two forms — wide-mouthed for tea, narrow and tall for coffee — each with a matching saucer
03 Each piece is handmade and varies slightly — a mark of the technique's uncompromising process

Where the porcelain is cut, a quiet blue light appears. This is Hotaru-te — a technique originating in Ming dynasty China (1368–1644) in which an openwork base is filled with transparent glaze and fired, allowing light to pass through the surface. Hotaru means "firefly" in Japanese.

Hiroshi Taruta works from his studio in Seto City, Aichi Prefecture — a city long celebrated for its pottery tradition, Seto-yaki. While most Hotaru-te works use small round openings, Taruta works with linear slits instead. This approach is considerably more demanding, but the quality of light it produces — soft, directional, filtering like cloud-broken sunlight — is unlike anything the conventional form yields.

This cup and saucer set comes in two forms: a wide-mouthed, low-profile cup suited to tea, and a narrower, taller cup for coffee. Each is thrown on the wheel, incised by hand, and fired with transparent glaze filling the cuts. No two pieces are identical.

meet the artisans

Hiroshi Taruta

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Specifications

Material: Porcelain
Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
Each cup includes a matching saucer.
Technique: Wheel-thrown, linear Hotaru-te incision, transparent glaze fill

 

Shipping

Ships within 1 week · Shipping cost included in price.

Care

Hand wash only. Avoid prolonged soaking. Not suitable for microwave or dishwasher use. As each piece is handmade, slight variations in form and glaze are a natural part of the work.

View full details
  • Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
    Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
  • Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
    Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
  • Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
    Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
  • Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
    Tea Cup: Dia. 3.5 × H 2.2 in (90 × 55 mm)
  • Saucer
    Saucer
  • Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
    Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
  • Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
    Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
  • Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
    Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
  • Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)
    Coffee Cup: Dia. 3.3 × H 2.6 in (85 × 65 mm)

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