JUN THE GLAZE

Just so there is no confusion, this is about a glaze not a cat (Jun-Yao) though he was named after the glaze because of his wondrous eye color, so in a way it is also about a cat at least in my mind. That being said, way back to our early days of visiting the BMFA, CMA and the Met, one thing that never failed to get our attention was the various Chinese pots with Jun-yao surfaces, known as one of the five great kilns of the Song Dynasty. Considering the sheer rarity and expense of really good Jun ware we turned our attention to Japanese pottery made in the Chinese taste, also known as Kinyo and one potter who was of instant interest was Miyashita Zenju (1901-1968), father of Showa/ Heisei stand-out Miyashita Zenji.  Zenju had a varied if not somewhat short career spending  time in China and Korea perfecting his interest in varying archetypes and glaze surfaces, studied with Kawamura seizan and Kusube Yaichi along the way  before setting up his studio in Kyoto where he became a key figure in the pottery movement and aethetic circles of the day.     

Illustrated is a classic guinomi created in a hybrid of Chinese and Japanese taste with a surface that harkens back to the Song Dynasty where the rich, active and captivating surface texture could be as intoxicating as the intended beverage of which it would serve. The thin, lip is a wonderful contrast to the multi-colored glaze that is fluent in a number of hues that surround the interior pond of soft, robin egg's blue making for a perfect focal point. Neither too large nor too small, this Miyashita Zenju guinomi has a rather inviting form and bearing, is easy to pick up due to the slight indent just under the lip and is certainly effortless in its filling and use with an eye toward function and beauty, the potter has made all the right decisions.