Tsukumonasu

• Japanese: 九十九茄子 or 付藻茄子 (tsukumo nasu)

Tsukumonasu is a famous Chinese ceramic tea caddy (chaire) formerly owned by the Ashikaga shoguns, the Asakura clan, Matsunaga Hisahide, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

After passing through the hands of the Ashikaga and Asakura, the Tsukumonasu made its way into the possession of Matsunaga Hisahide, who gave it as a gift to Oda Nobunaga. Following the siege of Osaka in 1615, Tokugawa Ieyasu sent men into the ruins of the castle to retrieve this and other treasures of the Toyotomi collection. It was pieced back together, and survives today in the collection of the Seikadô Art Museum.

References

• Morgan Pitelka, Spectacular Accumulation, University of Hawaii Press (2016), 26.