According to the dictionary, "volume is the
quantity of three-dimensional space enclosed by some boundary", but what
this definition is a bit short on creating is a real world perspective of what
the volume of something, say a pot, truly means. If you have handled an o-buri
chawan by Kumano Kuroemon, you will understand what I am talking about. If you
are told the dimensions of his chawan, your mind and experience think, wow,
that is a big bowl, but in hand and truly expressing the sense of volume of the
pot, your immediate thought is WOW, that really is a big chawan. What really
brings this up is that in the past two months, I have had three pots pass
through my hands that I knew the dimensions, but in each case as they were
unpacked, I was immediately awed by the sense of volume that they contained and
the volume of space that they commanded. The three pots, a Kumano chawan, a
tall vase by Kaneta Masanao and a stunning hakuji vase by Mashiko veteran,
Hirosaki Hiroya. The impressive aspect of each of these pot is not simply about
scale and actual volume, rather it is as much about how each command both their
physical space and the space in which they are put. Though all objects will
have some sense of volume, fewer yet can command the volume in which they are
surrounded.
Illustrated is a tall Hagi vase form by kurinuki
master, Kaneta Masanao. At over 14" tall, the vessel is impressive and
imposing, commanding its space much like an ancient medieval citadel. The pot
is glazed in a Shiro-Hagi glaze that has significant areas of blushed pinkish
hues over half of the form and vivid areas of intense white speckles interrupting
the absolute purity of the form. There are black highlights which define the
form and process that peer out from underneath the glaze adding additional
definition to the form and at the top of the form and on to one side there is a
keyhole style opening cut out to complete the function of the form. In a static
photo, volume can be hinted at, but it is only in person that the volume can be
felt and fully appreciated.
"The world is full of magic things,
patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." W.B. Yeats (1865-1939)
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