One of my favorite pots

[nathanbs]

I have this shohin Yoshimura pot for a trident. This pot is carved from a solid block of clay. It is glazed inside and out, underneath and the glaze is left off just enough for his Hanko.

I have quite a few yoshimura/syuho pots signed the same way and a few that are signed in the clay but I doubt if any of mine were carved out of a solid block of clay. How can you tell?

 

[GastroGnome]

You are a very valuable member here, dont let anything keep you away. For those of us who live and breathe pots, you are a rock star

Keep it up

Strong buds,
big D

I don't know what that made me smile so big, but it did. I originally became a chef because I wanted to be a rockstar but was to lazy to learn guitar(thanks tony!). Weird how things come full circle.
Ryan
http://japanesebonsaipots.net/

 

[GastroGnome]

So I'll weigh on this "speckling" issue as Nathan brought it to my attention. Al, the speckling we're talking about here is, I think, silver in color, or at the very least metallic. Brian, it does appear crystalline in nature, and doesn't look trapped within the glaze, but rather appears on the surface. I believe this is uniquely Japanese. While there are examples of Oribe pottery that predate Japanese use, I've never seen anything Chinese before 1940 with this technique.
In my research, Tofukuji pioneered this style of glaze, and it was picked up directly from him by Ino Shukuho. A generation later, potters like Aiba Koyo, Katoaka Shuho, and Shigeru Fukuda have emulated it to great effect. I think the best is Ino Shukuho, a significant portion of his pots have this glaze.

Shukuho

Shukuho

Tofukuji

Bushuan, previously of my collection. Really takes those silver speckles to the limit!
Ryan
http://japanesebonsaipots.net/

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Thanks Ryan. Interesting, on my Koyo, some of the crystals seem to break the surface of the glaze. But the stain seems to be beneath it.

That Tofukuji is one special pot. WOW.

 

[nathanbs]

Sweet thanks for the history lesson Ryan. Much appreciated!

 

[nathanbs]

here is my smallest but favorite Koyo.

 

[Dav4]

That's a nice little pot...love the glaze/color almost as much as mine...not enough polka dots or splatters, though.

 

[nathanbs]

I will post a few more tomorrow that have a little more speckling

 

[Ron Dennis]

Plus one more

Plus one on this. We need knowledgeable people like you here. And it's not all abut the pots, you've prob. Seen more good trees than most of us put together.

Plus another. Ryan, I look forward to anything you contribute here and on your own site, which as you know, I am a very frequent visitor.

 

[GastroGnome]

Some more examples of silver speckled pots from my collection:

Koyo

Koyo

Koyo, this one is red with a blue highlight you can just see. Almost more speckle than glaze!

Ikkou

 

[GastroGnome]

And here's one of my current favorites(probably because I only got it a week ago). The speckling is confined to the top and rim, with some pretty awesome blue-green drippy glaze below. Shigeru Fukuda, Bushuan kiln.

 

[nathanbs]

Those are some amazing pots

 

[GastroGnome]

And for a bit more history from the pioneer himself, here are more Tofukuji pots with this glaze:

 

[JudyB]

The one on the stand in the post above is meltingly beautiful. Have you ever seen this pot paired with a tree?

The other pots are very cool too, thanks for posting these pics.

 

[pjkatich]

Bravo!!

What a great showing of glazed bonsai containers.

Indeed, the speckling displayed on most of these pots is a result of pyroxene crystals that form during the cooling phase of a glaze firing.

Pyroxene crystals are the silicates that form from minerals such as iron, copper, magnesium, and calcium (to name a few) when they are cooled very slowly. Pyroxene crystals are very common in nature and found in many ingenious rocks.

The chemistry of the glaze, the application of the glaze, the placement of the container in the kiln, the way the kiln is fired, and most importantly, the way the kiln is cooled all effect the final outcome of these types of finishes.

There is even a specialty class of ceramic finishes that are know as Crystalline glazes and many of the results are simply spectacular.

Dave, that's a great pot. I would have no trouble sitting and looking at that one myself.

Ryan, I appreciate all the research that you have done regarding Japanese bonsai containers and enjoy your blog very much. Keep up the good work and don't let the negative people get to you.

Cheers,
Paul

 

[nathanbs]

Tough to follow those posted by Ryan but here are a few of my speckled beauties.
These 3 are Koyos.




This one is a Hekisui with a crazy amount of speckling, more so spotting


Yamaaki

 

[nathanbs]

Last one and one of my favorites a Syuho, kinda similiar glaze and speckling to the Syuho that started this post

 

[Dav4]

Those are all nice pots, particularly the last two...thanks for the pictures.

 

[dick benbow]

I got interested in pots from the UK... derek aspinal, dan barton...here's one from dan that i particularly like

 

[nathanbs]

Dick you should start a thread with pots with frogs, crabs, or other critters incorporated into them. It will be a fun post