SHIMMERING GEOMETRY

Illustrated is a well thrown yuri-hakkin-sai hanaire with very pleasant proportions and measuring just about a shaku in height. Made by Furukawa Toshio most likely in the late 1980s or early 1990, this glaze and the geometric patterning is typical of his work where he cut shapes from platinum foil and then using sgraffito he animated the surface. In this particular case, Furukawa relied on a much more geometric design, less organic than some of his pieces where thin columns of foil give way to large rectangular devices where the form reaches its fullest volume. The vase is further divided into six distinct segments into which the repeating patterns are applied and carried out creating distinct fields of shimmering geometry.       

Expanding on his seiji and seihakuji techniques, Furukawa Toshio created quite a few of this yuri-hakkin-sai style work, many of which ended up being featured in national exhibitions across Japan. Like with his celadon works, Furukawa used this glaze/ foil technique on a wide array of forms and sizes ranging from guinomi and koro all the way up to large tsubo and rather expansive hachi. This vase is just one of a myriad of pieces that harken back to the works of Ono hakuko, Kato Hajime and the older Chinese wares from which this technique sprung but it is a fitting addition to an idea and ideal that has become almost synonymous with Japanese potters of the Showa through Heisei eras and now beyond.          

On a personal note, given the chance, seeing Furukawa’s yuri-hakkin-sai work in the sunlight is in my opinion the very best way to look the view away in one’s memory.