SATSUMA GEM

This gem-like Satsuma chaire was a real chore to photograph so in the end, I decided to take this informal portrait complete with hotspots and the reflection of the tatami display. Made by Saigo Takafumi (b.1947), a direct descendant of Saigo Takamori (check your wiki), this potter has dedicated his life to the pursuit of various Satsuma style glazed ware including this shinsha red chaire painted with evocative and visually pleasing swaths of blue to purple about the form. The surface of this fat, round form is punctuated with shimmery crystal of a wide array of colors which is in turn complimented by the broad, flat lid and fine Satsuma clay base. Though best known for his take on traditional pottery of the Kagoshima region, this chaire with its Chinese influenced form and red glaze is brought home with the rich and diffuse use of the black glaze splashed across the face like some classic Zen ink stroke and made distinctly Satsuma and even more so a work by Saigo Takafumi.