256. KOGA Kenji, 1945- , Korean-style Karatsu-ware clam-shaped small dishes

256. KOGA Kenji 古賀賢治, 1945- , Chōsen Karatsu hamaguri mukōzuke 朝鮮唐津蛤向付  (Korean-style Karatsu-ware clam-shaped small dishes), set of five

 

Koga was born in 1945 in Fukuoka Prefecture. He came to potting rather later than most, at the age of 29 in 1974. He established his own kiln, the Koken Kama 古賢窯,  in Kita Kyūshū City in 1991. To judge from online pictures of other examples of works, he specializes in table ware. 

A coarse clay, the unglazed portions of the pieces are a light tan, with redder colors within the foot rings. Glazed in black and white, with the foot ring and the surrounding areas left unglazed. Each of the five pieces has different dimensions. Weight: 292 – 358 g (10.4 – 12.7 oz). Length: 15.2 – 15.6 cm (6 – 6-1/4 in). Width: 12.3 – 14.0 cm (4-7/8 – 5-1/2 in). Height: 5.4 -5.6 cm (2-1/8 – 2-1/4 in). 

These were shaped to resemble clam shell halves. Each piece sits on a roughly circular foot ring, again of variable diameters, ranging from 6.3 to 7.5 cm (2-1/2 – 3 in). The foot rings are about a centimeter (3/8 in) high on the outside. The inside of the rings was hollowed out very shallowly. The artist’s sigil was incised within the rings. Above the rings, the walls form two distinct zones. The first rises outward at a shallow angle above the foot ring to about a third of the way up. Above this, the second zone extends outward at a steeper angle in more or less straight lines to the rim. There is a bump on the exterior walls where the two zones meet, especially at the back of each piece. The back sides are flatter. It appears that the pieces were shaped as circular bowls. Koga then slit what would become the back side to the depth of the upper zone and pulled the right-hand side over the left-hand side to create a more vertical wall at the back. At the rear of these slits, he attached two wedges as if they were staples holding the slit shut.  Except in the center of the inside, where the glaze is thickest, the surface is bumpy. 

There were glazed in what is known as “Korean-style” Karatsu-ware. The front portion of the inside and the corresponding outside walls were glazed in black.The back portions of the pieces were then covered in a thin white glaze on both the inside and the outside. Due to the thinness of the glaze, it functioned almost as a luster glaze over most of this area, leading to a glossy, dun brown color on these parts. Where the white glaze pooled at the lower edges of the outside walls and in the back center of the insides, it showed up as white after firing. The outside edges of the white patches where it overlaps the black glaze and the glaze is thinner are blue. The lower portion of the external walls and the foot rings were left unglazed. 

Chōsen Karatsu refers to ware that has been glazed with both an ash glaze with a high iron content (black to amber) and a glaze made with the ashes of rice straw mix with a slip (white), applied separately top/bottom or left/right on the ware. The contrast of white and black glazes is quite striking, and the multihued waterfall effect of white, blue, purple, and yellow where the glazes melt together and flow is a defining characteristic of this style of Karatsu-ware. The color changes on the surface of this ware are unpredictable and reminiscent of natural landscapes. 

Mukōzuke is a sashimi course in a formal kaiseki dinner. 

This came in a wooden box, inscribed by Koga in three lines: 朝鮮唐津蛤向付  Chōsen Karatsu hamaguri mukōzuke  (Korean-style Karatsu-ware clam-shaped small dishes) / 唐津焼古賢窯Karatsuyaki Koken Kama  (Karatsu-ware Koken Kiln) / Koga Kenji 古賀賢治  followed by his seal stamped in red. A short, printed biography was included in the box. 

Robert Mangold, the owner of the Kura Monzen Gallery, had these directly from Koga and dates them to before 2000. 

Puchased from the Kura Monzen Gallery in Kyoto, Japan, in July 2024 (invoice, shipping and customs documents).