164. Julie Burkley, blue moon pot, 2021

164. Julie Burkley, blue moon pot, 2021

Burkely is a part-time potter working out of the Brookline [MA] Arts Center. For more on her work, see her page on the Arts Center’s website or her Facebook account @afterfivepottery.

White clay, blue glaze on exterior, interior and base left unglazed. Weight: 1056 g (2.4 lb). Rim diameter: 4.3 cm (1-5/8 in); maximum diameter: 15.3 cm (6 in); base diameter: 8 cm (3-1/8 in).

This sits directly on a flat base. A small “A5” was scratched into the base. The artist attached three protective felt pads on the base. The walls rise in a continuous convex arc to the neck, reaching the maximum width 9 cm (3-1/2 in) above the base. The neck and rim are about 0.6 cm high; the narrowest width at the neck is 3.5 cm (1-3/8 in). The walls curve into the neck and then out to the lip. The exterior of this is very smooth. The interior is rough, unburnished clay.

The exterior and the lip of the pot were glazed in a dark blue color. The interior and the base were left unglazed. At the top the glaze is streaky. As you move down the vase, the glaze becomes mottled and then speckled. Toward the bottom the color is a solid blue.

The pot is very symmetrical but the variations in the glazing break up the lines somewhat.  A beautiful job of glazing on this pot.

Purchased at Feet of Clay Pottery’s sale in December 2021.

 

163. Kari Wojtanik, pit-fired vase, 2021

163. Kari Wojtanik, pit-fired vase, 2021

For Wojtanik, see item 91.

White clay, colors from pit-firing. Weight: 425 g (15 oz). Mouth diameter, 3.8 cm (1-1/2 in); maximum diameter, 11.3 cm; base diameter, 7 cm (2-3/4 in). Height: 8.8 cm (3-1/2 in).

This sits directly on the flat base. A large capital “K” followed by, in much smaller size, “ari,” was incised into the bottom. The walls rise from the base in a very shallow convex arc to the maximum width 7 cm (2-3/4 in) above the base and then curve inward to the mouth at a sharp pace. The exterior appears to have been burnished and is quite smooth except in a few places where the pit-firing left rough deposits.

The colors come from the pit-firing and range from black to a smoky gray to shades of reddish browns. The interior was less affected by the fumes from the pit-firing and is mostly a dull gray with some patches of black and red.

Another splendid piece from Wojtanik. A new shape for her, at least among the vases in my collection.    

Purchased at Feet of Clay Pottery’s semiannual sale in December 2021.

 

162. Asymmetrical chawan, with intense design

162. Asymmetrical chawan, with intense design

Red clay, variety of glazes including Shino, base of foot ring left unglazed. Weight 336 g (12 oz). Width at rim: 8 to 12 cm (4-3/4 to 5-1/4 in); foot ring: 5.8 to 6.3 cm (2-1/4 to 2-1/2 in). Height: 7.7 cm (3 in).

This sits on the base of the six-sided foot ring The length of the sides varies as does the height of the outer side (approx. 0.6 cm, or 1/4 in). The interior of the foot ring is a shallow, irregularly formed concavity, Since the shape and position of the foot ring is mirrored by a depression of the same shape on the interior, it may have been formed by pushing the clay out from the inside and then roughly carving the sides on the exterior to form the foot. The walls are highly irregular. Adjacent to the foot ring, they jut out at a very shallow angle, varying from nearly flat to roughly 20 degrees upward. The width of this section varies from 1.6 cm (5/8 in) to 2.5 cm (1 in). Above the section the walls are perpendicular, with many dents and bumps, and generally moving slightly outward to the rim. Both the interior and the exterior walls were modified in many ways (see below). The texture ranges from rough to smooth.

Two sections of the exterior, on roughly opposite sides of the bowl, were covered with a textured slip with many holes in it that allow the color of the clay to show through. A pointed tool of some sort was used to scratch lines in the wall of the bowl. The exterior has a checkboard pattern, a rectangle with an X inside, and various squiggly lines. The interior has five geometric designs spaced along the interior walls. One of these is a rectangle drawn in one continuous line beginning in the center and then moving outward in series of straightish lines to form a series of nested rectangles. The other four are nested arrow shapes. The sixth section of the interior walls has a group of six dents, which appear to have been made with the fingertips. One section of the exterior has a repeating diamond-shape design, which may have been created with a patterned roller. There is an octagonal impression with cross-hatching in the center that appears to have been made with a stamp. It looks like an artist’s mark, but on this pot it’s impossible to tell.

The interior and portions of the exterior were coated with a Shino glaze, which has significant carbon capture from the wood-firing with patches of cream and red. One side of the pot was dipped in a dark brown glaze, covering both the exterior and the interior on that side. This glaze has some fine crackling. A lighter reddish-brown glaze was used to draw rough lines dividing the geometric figures on the interior, as well as around the darker brown glaze on the exterior. Finally, decorations (lines, circles, blobs, and a vaguely vine-like object) were drawn on the exterior with a brush in bright black, green, and red. These decorations lie atop the other surface embellishments.

The artist’s name, the date of the object’s creation, and location where the object was made are unknown.

By all rights this should be a mess, but somehow it comes together as a sprightly, whimsical piece.

Purchased from the CharlieB Gallery in Carson City, Nevada, in November 2021.

 

161. Katō Bakutai, 1861–1943, Mashiko-style red glazed chawan

161. Katō Bakutai  加藤麦袋, 1861–1943, Mashiko-style red glazed chawan, early twentieth century

For Katō, see item 145.

Light tan clay, red glaze with black streaks and patches, and golden ash glaze; foot ring and bottom exterior walls left unglazed. Weight: 294 g (10.5 oz). Rim diameter: 11.4 cm (4-1/2 in); foot ring width: 5.2 cm (2 in). Height: 6.7 cm (2-5/8 in).

This sits on the foot ring, which is about 0.6 cm (1/4 in) high on the exterior. The interior of the foot ring is irregularly hollowed out to about half this distance. The exterior of the foot ring has been cut away in a series of irregular scallops. The artist’s mark, an oval with the characters for “Bakutai” was pressed into the exterior wall of the bowl just above the foot ring. The walls rise outward in a convex arc to about two-thirds of the way up and then continue to the rim in more or less a straight line. The surface is bumpy. The glazed portions are smooth, the unglazed a bit rough.

This was coated in what is often referred to as the “Hamada red glaze,” a dark scarlet red with streaks of black. Here the black patches appear on opposite sides of the bowl on the exterior; these patches continue over the rim and into the interior of the bowl. The bottom of the interior is also mottled with black. This was wood-fired, and ash deposits led to a golden-colored ash deposit on the exterior covering much of the black patches. The foot ring and the lower part of the exterior wall were left unglazed. The unglazed clay, particularly on the lower part of the walls, has darkened over time from use.

A nice interaction between the glaze and the wood-firing.

Purchased from Treasures of Old Times in Bangkok in November 2021.

 

160. Yellow Seto-ware (kiseto) chawan, mid-twentieth century

160. Yellow Seto-ware (kiseto) chawan, mid-twentieth century

Gray clay, with yellow and green glazes, base left unglazed. Weight: 236 g (8.5 oz). Rim and maximum diameter: 13 cm (5-1/8 in); foot ring diameter: 5 cm (2 in). Height: 6 cm (2-3/8 in).

This sits on the foot ring, which is 0.5 cm (3/16 in) on the outside. The area inside the foot ring was hollowed out to about two-thirds of this distance. The walls just above the foot ring jut out in a straight horizontal line for a distance of about 0.5 cm. The walls then rise upward in more or less a straight line to a height of 4.2 cm (1-5/8 in) above the base. Above this is a concave groove about a finger’s width wide leading to the rim. A rectangular seal with three characters (see last picture) was stamped into the outer wall of the piece just above the base. The first two characters appear to be 津島 (Tsushima); the last character is illegible. I can’t find any potter or kiln associated with this name, although there is a Tsushima in Aichi-ken, near Seto. A circular emblem containing three “comma”-like shapes chasing one another’s tails (see second and third pictures) was pressed into the outer wall of the piece.  The surface of this is pitted but not particularly rough.

With the exception of the base, this was glazed using the yellow Seto-ware glaze. Both the interior and the exterior have three blobs of an Oribe-style copper-green glaze. Spots and streaks of brown colors show through much of the yellow glaze.

This fits nicely in the hands. The groove just under the rim makes it easy to hold. The splashes of green color break up what otherwise might be a monotonous yellow. This shows evidence of much use.

Purchased from Treasures of Old Times in Bangkok in November 2021.

 

159. Dieter Kunzemann, 1928-2011, small slip-decorated squarish plate, ca. 1958

159. Dieter Kunzemann, 1928-2011, small slip-decorated squarish plate, ca. 1958

Dieter Kunzemann was born near Leipzig, Germany, in 1928. He trained and worked with his father-in-law, country potter Chris Harries, at Coldstone Pottery in Oxfordshire from 1953 to 1967. In 1967 he started Evenlode Pottery in Gloucestershire. He is known for producing domestic and decorative slipware, mostly with wheat-ear decoration and using green, yellow and black glazes.  The seller gave the date of this as “ca. 1958.”

A fine-grained red clay, glazed in yellows and browns, base left unglazed.  Weight: 188 g (7 oz). Width: 12.7-13 cm (5 5 to 5-1/8 in); diagonal: 14 cm (5-1/2 in). Height: 1.3 cm (5-8 in).

This is a shallow bowl/saucer, probably shaped using a mold. The clay slab is about 0.4 cm (1/8 in) in width. The piece sits directly on the flat base. The artist’s mark, a “K” inscribed within the open space of a “D”,  was pressed into the base. The sides curve upward in a convex arc to meet an upward beveled lip. The interior surface mirrors the exterior. The glazed surfaces are extremely smooth (every touch leaves a fingerprint); the unglazed clay is only very slightly rough.

The exterior surface and the beveled edge are a dark reddish brown in color; The upper surface is a yellowish brown with a band of slip decoration in a darker brown. The surface is very glossy, perhaps the result of a finishing luster glaze or soda/salt firing. The design was created in part by pulling the tip of the brush away from a circular blob of slip to extended it outward in a sharp point.

This highly glazed and carefully designed piece is typical of a movement in decorative pottery in the 1950s toward a more abstract “folk” and “arts and crafts” decoration. The decoration is lively and free-wheeling. The “points” on the slip decoration impart a lot of movement to the piece. The glazing on this is rich and beautiful.

Purchased from the CharlieB Gallery in Carson City, Nevada, November 2021.

 

158. Iga-ware vase, wood-fired, early twentieth century

158. Iga-ware vase, wood-fired, early twentieth century

 

 

Iga-ware is a long-established tradition of Japanese pottery made in what is now Mie Prefecture in central Japan, east of the Kyoto-Osaka-Nara region. The seller dated this to the Meiji period.

Dark coarse clay with small, white embedded pebbles; interior and upper part of exterior glazed in a bluish-gray ash glaze; other colors from wood firing. Weight: 2190 g (5 lb). Widths: mouth, 5.7 cm (2-1/4 in); lip, 8.8 cm (3-1/2 in); neck, 7.5 cm (3 in); maximum, 12.5 cm (5 in); base, 11.3 cm (4-1/2 in). Height: 28 cm (11 in).

This sits directly on the base. The interior of the base is hollowed out in a concavity to the depth of about 2 cm (3/4 in). Above the base the walls curve outward in a convex line to the maximum width, which is 2.5 cm (1 in) above the base, and then curve inward to the minimum width of 10 cm (4 in), which begins 7 cm (2-3/4 in) above the base. The walls rise more or a less in a straight line to the base of the ear lugs   18.3 cm (7-1/4 in) above the base, before widening slightly to 11.3 cm (4-1/2 in) at the shoulders, which begin 24.5 cm (9-3/4 in) above the base. At the shoulders, the walls turn abruptly inward in a straight line to the neck, which consists of two parts. The lower part is 7.5 cm (3 in ) in diameter and about 1 cm (3/8 in) high. The upper part is 8.8 cm (3-1/2 in) wide and about 1.5 cm (5/8 in) high. The upper part of the neck is squarish in shape, as is the mouth. The ear lugs were formed from rectangles roughly 2.5 cm (1 in) wide and 10 cm (4 in) long, folded down at the top and attached at the shoulders and then curved outward and down to reconnect with the body of the pot about 6.8 cm (2-3/4 in) down.

The exterior of the pot was not smoothed and shows throw marks along the entire length. A spatula was used to scrape six long vertical gouges on the walls of the pot, two on each face, and one under each ear lug.  The ear lugs were attached in a deliberately haphazard manner. They are not exactly opposite each other; nor are they precisely vertical. The surface of the pot is rough and pitted.  As is characteristic of Iga ware, small white pebbles were embedded in the surface of the clay at random points.

The interior and the upper part of the exterior were glazed in what looks like an ash glaze, bluish gray in color, with a fair amount of carbon capture. The glaze ran down the exterior in a series of long drips. This was wood-fired, and the other colors on the exterior, which range from a light reddish tan to a sooty dark brown, result from the interactions in the kiln among heat, smoke, and clay.

A blunt statement of what can be done with clay. The molding is deceptive—seemingly careless, but not carefree or whimsical in the way that some Oribe is. The pot is heavy and coarse as a principled statement of an aesthetic. Skill and experience went into the making of this. It only looks rough-hewn. It is the result of a highly conscious and well-conceived “ineptitude.”

This is a heavy pot to lift. It’s very solid and earthbound (in many senses). I wouldn’t say that it’s a pleasure to hold—it feels dusty and dirty, rough, coarse. It shifts abruptly from round to squarish shapes. It’s unbalanced. The curves of the gashes along the walls impart motion to the vase and make it look as though it leans to one side (this is an optical illusion—the body is symmetrical). The pot appears to be divided into ill-sorted segments, put together in a slapdash fashion. It is, as current jargon has it, full of wabisabi.

This came with a box, quite old to judge from its appearance. The characters on the lid are, on the upper right  伊賀 耳付 (Iga;  mimitsuki), Iga[-ware], vase with attached ears. The column to the left of this appears to read 花生 (hanasei), “flower life,” another term for a vase. The characters were also written on a strip of paper glued to the side of the box.  Written on the bottom of the box in ink are the small characters 日.山.  (in Japan, these would be read right to left). There are dots after each character, presumably to indicate these are separate components and not one word. The characters are read hi or nichi (“sun/day/Japan”) and yama or san (“mountain”). There is a small circle O on a separate line beneath the characters.

Purchased from Treasures of Old Times in Bangkok, November 2021.