I
found this illustration the other day while I was trying to do some
"research" on Sung celadons and there it was between some wonderful
old Chinese pots. This light blue kannyu-seiji chawan is by Kishimoto Kennin who
besides mastering this particular glaze has delved deeply into a wide array of
surfaces and styles from Shino & Oribe to wood fired Iga-yaki. I love the
casual form and posture of this bowl and the horizontal ridge that runs around
the piece creates a wonderful glaze stop where the glaze pools a bit, darkens
and the fracture pattern is altered. The ridge is highly affective on this
chawan creating a rich visual element to the piece which breaks up the
uniformity of the walls of the pot as well as the continuity of the surface.
The ridge and lip create dark, iron saturated lines that together with the
unctuous roll of glaze at the base and around the fingerprints add yet more
definition to the lyrical and mysterious quality of the chawan. Over the years
I have seen quite a few pots with this style of glaze and ironically many are
stayed in their presentation, some even boring but in this chawan, Kishimoto Kennin
used all of his years of experience to create a pot that is a dissertation in
what it means to be kannyu-seiji.
.JPG)