YURI-HAKKIN-SAI

Illustrated is a rather large bowl I was able to study a while back by Kyoto potter Furukawa Toshio (1949-2005) with the aid and assistance of my potter and I guess photography assistant, Khan. I was forced to take several shots of this large bowl on the floor as it is just about 20" in diameter and doesn't fit where I normally photograph and that is when curiousity got the better of the cat. Furukawa Toshio specialized in a number of glazes of which celadons proliferate including multi-colored celadons that create shaded seiji surfaces as well as rich, deep copper reds. This particular piece is created by putting cut and sgrafitto platinum foil under a very deep Persian blue style glaze a technique (yuri-hakkin-sai) that his son Takuro (b.1979) continues today. There are several pieces with this exact style of surface exhibited in the EXHIBITION OF TRADITIONAL JAPANESE ART CRAFTS and it would not surprise me if this piece was exhibited there as well though that will remain to be seen. There is a lot I could say about this piece but perhaps the most striking feature is how luminescent the surface is, catching and refracting (reflecting) light from every angle and any light source and as you can see, even Khan is drawn to this pot.