This Aka-Raku bowl (red Raku) is a rare example from the early period of Raku ceramics in the seventeenth century. The tea bowl was shaped by hand, as was customary for Raku ceramics, without the use of a potter’s wheel. It stands on a short, narrow foot with a broad base ring. Above that, the wall initially extends almost horizontally outwards, then transitions into a relatively evenly shaped vertical wall that ends in a somewhat undulating lip. The rust-red glaze shows delicate traces of craquelure. The surface is broken up by clouds of darkly flecked, milky engobe. A striking effect is evoked by the two opposite cracked and chipped areas, which were repaired with fine lines of gold lacquer and secured with black staples made of shakudō, a copper-gold alloy. The technique of repairing with staples was rare in East Asia until the nineteenth century and is much more common in collections of European ceramics and porcelain.