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.