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.