Vintage Japanese Cast Iron Tetsubin Bamboo Cicada Gold Silver Brass Lid Showa 8"W LS#149

Japanese cast iron tetsubin (鉄瓶) — globular marugata form with gold and silver bamboo and cicada decoration, brass lid with silver flower finial

Vintage Japanese Shōwa Era, mid-20th century

A globular tetsubin of generous proportions, the body finished in iron-black with a finely pebbled surface texture. The decoration wraps the full circumference in a painterly, loosely brushed style: gold and silver-white bamboo (take, 竹) stalks with leaves, cicadas (semi, 蝉) clinging to the stalks among them. The pairing of bamboo and cicada is a quintessential Japanese summer motif — the cicada's brief, intense song and its emergence after years underground carried associations of transience and renewal in both literary and visual culture. The interior is clean dark iron in good order. The flat brass lid is surmounted by a finely cast four-petal flower-form silver-metal finial with smooth budded cap and amber glass bead — a distinctive workshop element shared across a related group of tetsubin. Copper bail handle with warm dark patina.

• Form: Marugata (globular)
• Decoration: Gold and silver bamboo with cicada; take ni semi (竹に蝉) motif
• Lid: Flat brass with silver four-petal flower finial, amber bead
• Handle: Copper bail
• Dimensions: 8" W × 9" H (20 × 23 cm)
• Period: Shōwa, mid-20th century

Condition: Unused. Very good. Interior clean. Please see photos for details.