UNDER & OVER

Illustrated are two yunomi illustrating two different uses of “red” as the primary method of decoration. On the right is a porcelain yunomi by yuriko copper red and sometsuke underglaze specialist, Yoshida Takashi (student of both Kondo Yuzo and Tomimoto Kenkichi). The yunomi has a pleasant and appealing rounded form and has an underglaze red banded design of grapes, grape leaves and vines. It is a nice and casual use of the red and has just enough pure white showing to intensify the red. The yunomi on the right is an aka-e (no) kinrande decoration with a sometsuke banded line acting as a border at the lip of the cup. This cylindrical porcelain yunomi is by sometsuke and enamel specialist, Shofu Eiichi (who also studied with Tomimoto Kenkichi). Both made very good use of different approaches.

For a Monday afternoon could there be anything better than to sit around and enjoy a nice cup of tea out of a simple handmade yunomi?

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”      Albert Einstein