Seto-yaki Cup & Saucer Set — Hand-Painted Floral Tripod Coffee Cup 11.6 cm

Seto-Yaki Cup & Saucer Set — Hand-Painted Floral Tripod Cup with Chibi-Mascot Motif by Maitōkan (Ø 11.6 × H 5.3 cm cup + 15.9 × 15 cm saucer, 250 ml)

About Maitōkan

Maitōkan (舞陶館 / Buyō-kan) is a creative-pottery brand from Aichi working in the Seto-yaki idiom. Their work crosses the line between functional tableware and small-scale folk-craft sculpture: hand-thrown shapes with character details, hand-painted decoration with iron-line drawing and lively color, and small mascot motifs that turn ordinary objects into companions. This cup-and-saucer set is part of their hand-painted floral series.

The pattern

The cup's interior shows a yellow daisy-form flower paired with a white companion bloom with delicate pink-blushed petal edges, set against a cream-glaze ground with a small white chibi-creature mascot looking on. The mascot — a round white silhouette with red-dot eyes and small upright "ears" — is in the spirit of the Japanese folk-motif yuki-usagi (雪兎 / "snow rabbit"), though Maitōkan does not name the species directly. The cup's exterior is finished in a coral-pink speckled glaze with hand-glazed drip texture, and the saucer mirrors the interior motif on a cream-buff ground, framed by a warm-brown iron-line rim wash. Iron-line outlines throughout give the painting its characteristic Seto-yaki creative-pottery handwriting.

The form — tripod cup

The cup sits on three small tripod feet (三脚 / sankyaku) — a less-common stance for Western-influenced creative-pottery cups, which gives the piece a light, lifted silhouette on the saucer. The cup has a handle and a slightly irregular wavy rim, both finished by hand. At Ø 11.6 × 11.0 × H 5.3 cm and 250 ml capacity, the cup is sized for coffee, tea, herbal infusions, or matcha-latte — comfortable for a generous single pour with one or two sugar cubes' worth of headroom.

About the body — earthenware (陶器)

This set is supplier-stated 陶器 (tōki / earthenware), the Seto-yaki body class for this Maitōkan line — distinct from porcelain (磁器 / jiki). Earthenware has a slightly porous body that absorbs a small amount of moisture, which is part of why creative-pottery makers favor it for the soft hand-glaze textures and tactile feel it allows. The supplier's care card (included with the set) explicitly notes the porosity ("陶器には吸水性がある") and recommends thorough drying after washing to avoid moisture retention. The exposed-clay underside of the saucer (visible on inspection) shows the warm brown-grey earthenware body.

• Made by Maitokan / Seto-yaki in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, curated by ZenKiln.