Brand names and product endorsements were important concerns for seventeenth-century Japanese potters and their daimyo patrons. These marketing practices are well documented in Andrew L. Maske's excellent, in-depth study of the seven Takatori workshops, of the Korean potters who began production that continued for nine generations over 260 years, and of the Kuroda han members who controlled the making and distribution of those ceramics. Whether to call a vessel “Karatsu ware,” indicating the port where such items were shipped to other parts of Japan; “Chikuzen ware,” identifying the daimyo domain where the items were made; or “Takatori ware,” referring to the production sites located at the base of Mount Takatori, was of great significance to practitioners of the tea ceremony, who were concerned with the acquisition and use of these items. If a leading tea master, such as Kobori Enshu (1579–1647), was somehow involved with the design and public approval of these vessels, the value of those ceramics increased greatly. Professor Maske's fascinating overview examines the complex network of personal relationships that influenced the production, distribution, and use of Takatori wares in premodern Japan, and this book would be of interest to students and scholars of both Japanese history and Japanese ceramics during the Edo period (1615–1868).

Maske's book is a volume in the new series “The Histories of Material Culture and Collecting, 1700–1950,” which examines the social meanings of object acquisition practices around the world. He provides detailed discussions of evolving Japanese ceramic production in northern Kyushu from about 1600 until the 1870s; translated documents from the archives of the Takatori potters, the Kuroda han members, and chanoyu practitioners; and more than 150 photographs of vessels, sherds, and kiln sites. The author writes that he has had an interest in Takatori ware since 1984, and he brings his personal experiences of seeing and handling these items to enliven the documentary evidence. As he notes, “Apart from the significance of its production history, however, the strongest reason for conducting a study of Takatori is the beauty and variety of the wares themselves” (p. 2).

The first chapter provides background information about politics in western Japan and about the development of the tea ceremony in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The second chapter documents the efforts of Korean potters, brought to Japan during or at the end of Japan's invasion of the peninsula in 1592–98, to establish workshops and kilns under the protective control of the Kuroda family. The types of Takatori pottery produced in the seventeenth century, especially tea wares, are discussed and illustrated in chapters four and five. Maske provides details about recent excavations of kiln sites and the chemical analyses of archeological materials to create a chronology for technical developments and aesthetic innovations over two centuries. In chapter six, the author investigates the distribution and use of Takatori ware, with particular interest in how Kuroda daimyo strictly controlled what was commercially available for sale and what was restricted to an elite population of military-political leaders and tea masters. A price list for 1748, records of ceramics given as gifts from 1828 to 1862, and a variety of seventeenth- to nineteenth-century diary entries by tea ceremony attendees give intriguing insights into how the Kuroda used ceramics to enhance their personal and han prestige. Maske also demonstrates how certain ceramic vessel shapes or painted decorations were generated, often from sketches sent to the potters, and he provides clearly labeled diagrams of vessel shapes and of “string-cutting styles” evident on the bottom of a piece.

As the Japanese ceramics scholar Louise Cort, author of Shigaraki, Potter's Valley (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1979), noted for the dust jacket to Andrew Maske's volume, “Nothing comparable exists in English, or Japanese,” especially since most Japanese scholars have focused their research on seventeenth-century Takatori ware and Maske provides a broader perspective. Professor Morgan Pitelka's Handmade Culture: Raku Potters, Patrons, and Tea Practitioners in Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2005) provides a similar overview to a single ceramic tradition, focused on Raku ware in the Kyoto/Kii region over 300 years, but with less technical analysis of clays and glazes and more emphasis on family histories.

Maske's book is a valuable contribution to Japanese art history, as the field expands beyond the familiar masterpieces to consider artistic production and patronage outside Kyoto and Edo. At $119.95, the cost of the hardbound volume is probably standard for libraries, but makes this work too expensive for undergraduate courses, and hopefully a less expensive format will be available.