SURFACE TENSION

I have written about the maker of this interesting mallet style vase before, Takahashi Wasaburo who made the very first (real) chawan that my wife and I ever collected. Though in many respects this vase is rather different than our chawan, the depth and complexity of the surface is very similar with a base glaze of a kannyu style seiji that was dipped in a rich, deep, dark red iron glaze and then the potter let the firing and surface tension take over. The application of the two glazes and temperature have conspired to create a rather exotic and visually complex surface that conjures up some alien texture that has the viewer scanning the piece in an effort to make some distinct sense out of the pattern.

In some respects, this pot has an almost camouflaged appearance that takes a determined eye to read the fullness and motion of the form from the contrary tapers of body and neck to the soft, intentional depressed flutes around the piece. Depending on the light source the underlying seiji glaze sparkles creating a rich visual narrative of iron and feldspar presenting a unique and three dimensional landscape with the well thought out form as its canvas. Though this appears to be a rather unusual surface by the potter, I suspect that in order to get to this point in creating a surface, there has to be others, perhaps even a large number of these pots and with any luck, the next one that shows up (especially a chawan) will end up in a small town in central New York State.