Illustrated is a close-up of a rather
remarkable Persian lustre design by the late Kato Takuo. The design portrays a
Persian prince, sword in hand, astride his horse, prepared for mortal combat,
possibly off to fight the Crusaders of times gone by. Rendered in exceptional
brushwork, the lustre is well captured here showing the wide array of colors
within the brushed lustre itself. Created primarily of dark ochre, the design
is painted on the already fired faience ware bowl and then refired to a low
temperature in a reduction atmosphere which creates this incredible luster.
Kato Takuo was a master at creating both this lustre ware and his Persian blue
pottery and though rather exotic considering it was created in Japan, his work
has influenced a number of potters at home and abroad and it will be quite some
time before this level of work is seen again.
There is an great book on Persian lustre-ware,
entitled; LUSTRE POTTERY by Alan Caiger-Smith. I would highly recommend this
book to anyone interested in the subject or chasing the lustre-ware dragon.
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