Tokoname Teapot: shiboridashis and hohins

[Ritva]

Have you noticed that Tokoname Teapot has added more shiboridashis and hohins in their website?
http://www.tokoname.or.jp/teapot/gallery.htm

This one is very pretty


This as well


This must be the flattest pot I've seen! It's for gyokuro, 70 ml volume. Not so pretty though...

[Victoria]

Very nice! I like them all. I am partial to flat ones, it's sweet!

[Chip]

Yeah, I saw those. Nice selection. I wonder if they would be interested in doing a Special Offer to members of TeaChat.

[chicagopotter]

Very nice! I like them all. I am partial to flat ones, it's sweet!

+1 The flat one has a really nice shape. The gold is a bit much, but just right for someone.

Yeah, I saw those. Nice selection. I wonder if they would be interested in doing a Special Offer to members of TeaChat.

+5 yeah totally!!

[Intuit]

Need a poll to ascertain interest in either houhin or shiboris shape.

[Chip]

Or I could try and be intuitive ...

[Seeker]

Very cool.
I remember someone posting a kyusu that was fairly flat, and it had a low set, long sasame filter - anyone remember that and where one might be acquired?

[JBaymore]

The "issue" I have with the gyokuro pot above is that while the form of the pot from the claywork is very nice, and the surface of the body (tsuchiaji) is nice, the execution of the gold luster work on top is not particularly skillful in the handling of the brush. The quality of line of the gold work does not, for the most part, have any fluidity.

The contrast between the skillfully executed fluid forming work and the somewhat crude gold work creates a big "disconnect" in the overall feel of the piece. It is a great idea......... just not fully realized.

Admittedly, gold luster is a difficult medium with which to paint. If it is urushi and gold leaf, then painting the urushi and then adhering the leaf without "mushing" the urushi lines is not easy either.

best,

.............john

[Intuit]

Black pot with fleur-de-lis: Its not like Tokonome kyusu artists haven't used stencils in the past - you can easily buy them online. No idea why the artist tried a freehand design like this one without sufficient practice to execute it cleanly. The pattern should be smaller scale, as it overwhelms the shape of the pot rather than complementing it.

I'd be interested in learning about their new chaho pot design.

[Robert Fornell]

The "issue" I have with the gyokuro pot above is that while the form of the pot from the claywork is very nice, and the surface of the body (tsuchiaji) is nice, the execution of the gold luster work on top is not particularly skillful in the handling of the brush. The quality of line of the gold work does not, for the most part, have any fluidity.

The contrast between the skillfully executed fluid forming work and the somewhat crude gold work creates a big "disconnect" in the overall feel of the piece. It is a great idea......... just not fully realized.

An interesting observation John and I'm in agreement for the most part, however not knowing the creators intent, I'm not so sure that I can make a judgement at this time. While the execution of form is quite finished, Tokonamesque, perhaps the intent of the creator was to "loosen" up the piece via more folky brushwork as it almost has a middle eastern feel to it in my eyes. If that was the goal, perhaps it could have been pushed a little more in that direction. Japanese might use the term エスニック, esunikku, (ethnic) when describing this piece, infusing the local with the exotic.

Great form however...

Best,
R

[Intuit]

Have to agree with JB.

With the exaggerated and unusual shape and sombre coloration, restraint in decoration, save perhaps a slight roughening stripe of brush texturing to emphasize the rondure, would have worked well.

[Chip]

Heh, that kyusu cries out to be different. The artisan seemingly went to great lengths to be rather nonconformist in the pot's extremely exagerated flatness to hyper flared handle to its gold hand painting.

Perhaps whether we care for it or not is not relevent at all ...

[Robert Fornell]

+1 for the purveyor of controled substances Chip.

[chicagopotter]

Perhaps whether we care for it or not is not relevent at all ...

+2 Agreed! "Beauty is in the eye of the belolder..."

Also, it may present itself quite differently in person.

[JBaymore]

Heh, that kyusu cries out to be different. The artisan seemingly went to great lengths to be rather nonconforimist in the pot's extremely exagerated flatness to hyper flared handle to its gold hand painting.

Perhaps whether we care for it or not is not relevent at all ...

In any piece of work like this you have a physical embodiment of the synthesis of intent and execution. My comments above reflected mainly on the execution side of the picture. For a piece to be really successful, the intent and execution have to be "in sync" to result in a synergistic whole. (That is not to say that all good work has to reflect "high touch".)

No matter if this potter was trying to be "different" or not, the nature of the execution of the gold work on the surface of this piece is incongruous with the execution of the actual underlying vessel form enough that it comes across as "lack of skill with one aspect of the execution" rather than part of the overall intent of the work to convey some particular feel. That lack of sophistication in the gold work sits in contrast to the skillfulness of the pot form....and detracts from it in my opinion.

If the intent had been more of a "folksy" and casual feel like the gold work possibly exhibits, then the execution of the POT form itself is out of keeping with nature of the goldwork.

In either case...... it isn't working.

On the more aesthetic side, from simply the "elements of design" point of view, the layout nature of the gold work does not compliment the form compositionally as intuit has already pointed out above.

I have no problem with the incorporation of design elements and ideas from outside the more traditional Japanese culture (this said by a potter who has deeply incorporated the Japanese aestehtic )......just the execution here of those ideas.

The "master" of casual, mingei-type ceramic work with GREAT executional skill was HAMADA Shoji. His seemingly casual use of the brush with both underglaze pigments and overglaze enamels was amazing in the control. Highly educated as a technical ceramist..... he used that skill to allow the material to speak freely.


best,

..............john