IRON PETALS

Illustrated is a rather simple and unpretentious chawan made out of a fine grained stoneware clay and having both nuka and tetsu-yu glazed to finish off the bowl. As you can see the bowl was thrown and ever so slightly moved out of round with a central ridged around the circumference of the chawan which in turn is glazed in a rich iron decoration of iron petals which is further highlighted by iron crystals that shimmer in the right light. 

Kimura Ichiro (1915-1978) studied first at the Kyoto ceramic Research Center and later with Hamada Shoji starting in 1935 until set up his own studio in 1947 where though the ongoing influence of his master can be seen, he developed a unique style for himself especially seen in the myriad of "quirky" and idiosyncratic molded henko that he produced, some simply decorated and other more so in a tour de force display of his excellent command of form and space.  

This particular chawan was made in a rather mature style showing restraint in the throwing, tooling, glazing and decoration and made presumably in the post-1965 period. I should note that though not exactly seen in this photo, the testure and coloration around the bottom of the bowl and kodai is rather pleasant looking like it has been banded specifically to call attention the the rustic appearance, vivid texture and feel of the foot. This Kimura Ichiro chawan is a classic piece to represent his body of work which clearly espouses the best elements of the Mingei movement with all of the functional necessity of tea ceremony or simply a bowl for udon or ramen.