PICTURE PICTURE

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