Admittedly I am more than a bit
partial to any variety of Persian or Raqqa style glazes but my favorites revolve
around the work of Kato Takuo and Kato Kenji as seen here. This very simple sun
soaked bajohai-guinomi is decorated inside and out tying the piece together in
design and surface. Perfectly thrown out of a red earthenware style clay the
piece is neither heavy or too light and feels just great grasped between the
fingers. The pale blue Toruko-ao (Turkish blue) has an quality that harkens
back to antiquity beside being made more or less in modern times where the near
transparent surface allows the finely detailed decoration to take center stage
in this concise three act play. From my observation I think one of the main
reasons that Kato Kenji resonates so well is that he came to understand the
"old source" materials, the pots of Persia and Turkey from antiquity
and grasped the spirit and attitude of the pottery while moving onto his own
vocabulary of forms and surface treatments he strove to imbue his own work with
the ideals of the archetypes he studied. In the end, Kato Kenji was extremely
adept at bringing clay, decoration and
glaze together in harmony where each played its role in the creation of his work
that spans the ancient Silk Road all the way to 20th century Gifu prefecture
and Japan writ large.
