Illustrated
is a close up detail of a Kumano Kuroemon Echizen vase that I received a while
back, the photo that is. At first glance it may seem like the photographer has
personal space issues but the truth is, getting to see details and nuances that
you never get from a standard group of display or sales photos, it is exactly
these types of images that add meat to a short treatise on the piece creating a
broader narrative from pot to viewer. During the intense Kumano firing, this
unglazed piece built up a nice coating of ash which over time melted and
created a characteristic Echizen blue ash run that mingles with and within the dark,
brownish bidoro which finds its origins in a calcium rich environment. Looking
at this photo you can't help but me intrigued by the heavy throwing rings,
marks circling the neck; traces of the potter's intense and quick struggle with
the clay that along with the dynamic surface are locked in a Promethean battle
for the rest of time (or as long as the molecular structure of the ceramics
stands up against time).
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