a timeless rabbit

Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1904.203a-b (noncommercial use permitted, the Freer and Sackler Galleries)

I couldn't resist sharing this clever creature.  Any guesses when it was made?  I thought at first glance it was a contemporary craft item, but no - it's from the mid-17th century.  This streamlined, ear-enhanced bun is an incense holder bearing the namestamp of the master of Japanese Kyoto ware, Nonomura Ninsei (active 1646-1677).  Kyoto ware are high-fired ceramics and porcelain created in that city, glazed in enamels and made to be used domestically.  Ninsei, unlike domestic ceramic artists before him, used thick monochrome enamel glaze on stoneware, and signed his work.  Of particular note in his tea bowls is the neat skill of their feet, the round projections on which they sit; not something you see in this incense holder, but I am still impressed by those dainty rabbit paws.
Learn more about Nonomura Ninsei here.