I first
saw a large covered jar like this one at an exhibition in Kyoto in the early
90s, it was right beside a Hara Kiyoshi tsubo with running horses on it and a
stellar Shimizu U'ichi combed iron jar. There were perhaps a two dozen other
pots exhibited but these three caught my attention more than the others though
we did purchase a tiny hanging vase by Udagawa Hosei that was on display. Sometime
later I encountered a larger version of the original jar, the one illustrated
here in a small photo in a past issue of the Honoho Geijutsu and then again
recently in a book that just arrived. I decided to take a picture of the
picture to share this beauty which I have always been drawn to, it is a
Kuro-Satsuma covered tsubo by Araki Mikijiro that is so swollen with volume
that it appears to be at its bursting point. The precise horizontal line
decoration just creates a vivid sense of verticality which is perfectly
balanced against the horizontal expansion of this pot. Though I have seen quite
a few of Araki's pots in pictures, I haven't seen that many in person, perhaps
a half dozen but I can tell you I would love to see this covered jar up close
and preferably at my home.
Here is a quick link to a previous post
regarding Araki Mikijiro and a short slideshow video.
https://albedo3studio.blogspot.com/2019/06/bowled-over.html
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