114. Mitch Yung, wood-fired, small pot with inlaid Mishima-style design

114. Mitch Yung, wood-fired, small pot with inlaid Mishima-style design

 

 

 

 

 

For Yung, see item 108.

Dark brown stoneware, interior Shino glazed, exterior decorated with inlaid porcelain slip; colors from wood-firing. Weight: 374 g (13.5 oz). Rim diameter: 6.8 cm (2-11/16 in); maximum diameter: 10 cm (4 in); foot ring diameter: 6 cm (2-3/8 in). Height: 10.7 cm (4-1/4 in).

This sits on the base of the foot ring. The exterior of the foot ring is 1 cm (3/8 in) high; the interior was hollowed out to about half this height. The artist’s mark, a capital “Y,” was pressed into the exterior of the foot ring. From the foot ring, the walls of the pot rise in a continuous convex arc to the neck. The maximum diameter of 10 cm (4 in) lies 5 cm (2 in) above the base, or just below the midpoint. The neck is 7 cm (2-3/4 in) in diameter, and the beginning of the neck lies 9.3 cm (3-5/8 in) above the base. The walls of the neck angle inward very slightly to the rim. The exterior walls of the pot were incised with closely spaced, irregular vertical lines from the neck to the foot ring; a porcelain slip was used to fill in these lines, and the exterior was then sanded to ensure a smooth surface (the technique used in Mishima-wares in Japan).

The interior of the pot has a Shino glaze; the exterior was left unglazed. The pot was wood-fired to cone 10 and reduction cooled. The wood-firing colored the interior red and a smoky gray. The interior has many of the pinprick spots for which the Shino glaze is known. The exterior was colored a reddish brown in some areas. There is a small ash deposit on the neck and the adjacent wall on one side.

This and the preceding item demonstrate this artist’s skill in using the inlaid Mishima technique for decorating pots.

Purchased from the artist, June 2021.