Janet Kaiser on tue 25 jan 00
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Next chapter in =22POTTERY AND CERAMICS: from common brick to fine china=22 =
by Ernst
Rosenthal:
JAPAN
Our information as to the origin of Japanese ceramic ware is very scanty. It=
is
believed that the first porcelain vases and statuettes were made in the =
first
century AD. The story goes that progress in pottery manufacture was very =
slow
until in the thirteenth century AD a Japanese potter, named Katosiro went to
China to study the secret processes of porcelain making. After his return to
Japan he is said to have made great improvements in porcelain manufacture.
The Japanese ceramic industry developed slowly but surely in the course of =
the
centures and became, in certain technical details, superior to the Chinese =
ware.
Particularly famous is the Japanese =22Egg shell=22, so named because it is =
very
thin and translucent. The Japanese became remarkably skilful at producing =
very
large translucent vases and plates of thin section. In addition to =
porcelain,
they also made faience, common pottery and stoneware, very often having a
translucent glaze and under-glaze decoration.
Japanese common pottery-ware fired at a low temperature and covered with =
soft
lead borax glaze is called Raku ware. =22The word =B4raku=B4 ranges in =
meaning from
ease, comfort, or enjoyment, to happiness, and comes from the ideograph =
engraved
on a gold seal given in 1598 by the Taiko, who was an enthusiastic patron of=
the
tea-ceremony, to Chojiro, son of Ameya, a Korean who settled in Kyoto in =
1525
and who is said to have been the first to make this ware=22 (A Potter's =
Book, by
Bernard Leach).
=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F==
5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5FEND
Although Ernst Rosenthal was writing pre and post War, this and the Chinese
Porcelain preceding it are an insight to how we have developed our =
perception of
porcelain and how it has changed over the centuries. Porcelain is NOT the =
narrow
=22hard-translucent-glossy=22 ideal we now conceive as being the only =
=22true=22
porcelain in the West. It has developed over the years and will no doubt
continue to do so, thanks to new experimental work and input by potters =
around
the world.
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art: Home of The International Potters' Path
Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales, UK
WEBSITE: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
EMAIL: postbox=40the-coa.org.uk
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