Illustrated
is a pot that you don't see every day, a casually glazed and decorated Shino
mizusashi by Arakawa Toyozo. Though all Shino, the form has a certain amount of
Karatsu inspiration in the making but the glaze and classic iron underglaze
decoration of a mountain and tree landscape is all Mino and pure Arakawa. The
thin glaze created a blushed hue in the firing rather than a more pure Shino
white surface and there are areas around the top portion of the pot where ash
has landed creating a very nice effect. The underglaze decoration used on this
mizusashi is typical of Arakawa's work and can be seen on a large number of his
pots though this particular rendition has a very Momoyama suiboku style feeling
to the design easily at home painted in ink on paper as it is on ceramic. The
gallery where the lid rests is fully glazed over and has no scars from wad
impressions so the pot was made without a ceramic lid and comes complete with a
custom made ro-iro lacquer one which highlights the rough wood grain. I guess I
will always think of this pot as the mizusashi with the great keshiki with the
wonderful landscape.
"The
landscape belongs to the person who looks at it..." Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Photo
used with the permission of a private collector.)
.JPG)