Recent finds, 5-2013

Very nice day at the auction. A lot of tea bowls and some kintsugi stuff. I missed out on more kintsugi than I found. There were about 10 pieces in all.

 

Japanese antiques, 5-2013

Just a couple of items. WordPress has a new interface for photos and I don’t know how to change the order.

The writing is from the Edo period, done by people in official positions, kuge. The topics are songs. They are done on Chinese paper which is thinner than onion skin paper. The backing is modern.

The other piece is a Korean vase.


 

Chinyui, 2013

I participated in the Chinyui event this year. http://chinyui.net/ It went very smooth for a first time event. Things were well organized and a lot of people came both days.

If you are thinking about attending I will layout the good and bad points. The good points are many, the bad points mainly have to do with structural problems since the event is held on the grounds of a castle.

The photos are from the morning of the second day.

Good.

  •  Well organized. There were a lot of Osaka Art University students helping people move their tents, etc., into place.
  • Friendly staff.
  • A lot of store and gallery owners came by to scout.
  • The other sellers didn’t sell at low prices or have sales. That is a problem since it attracts people who only want a bargain.
  • The people who came to buy didn’t bargain.
  • A high quality level of exhibitors. Many veterans.
  • You are able to do set-up the day before. If you do this you can drive into the castle, usually right next to your site. If you do set-up on the day of the event you have to use a more remote unloading spot.

 

 

Bad

  • The road going in and out is only wide enough for one vehicle. There isn’t anything the organizers can do about this. It is an old castle, the roads are narrow. If you do set-up the day before the event there aren’t people stationed at both ends of the road with radios. If you happen to be in the middle of the entry road and meet someone who doesn’t know how to drive on narrow roads, i.e., wait in a wide area, you will have to back up. The mornings of the event there are students stationed at both ends with radios.
  • It is a small hike from the unloading place to the show area. There are students to help with moving things but you need a large wheeled cart to make it go smoothly.
  • If you sell ceramics you will find many people doing the same.
  • The volunteer students are just that. Not well informed, not that well motivated.
  • Chinyui, 2013 002 Chinyui, 2013 003 Chinyui, 2013 004 Chinyui, 2013 005 Chinyui, 2013 006 Chinyui, 2013 007 Chinyui, 2013 008 Chinyui, 2013 001


 

 

Recent finds, 3-2013

Very interesting things this month. The glass rods look like they are ancient. I cleaned them in a sonic bath so they look clean but I think they are very old. I haven’t been able to find anything about them.

The turtle looking thing is the biggest kenzan to ever cross my path.


 

New work

I am getting ready for my next firing, going through ‘that which blocks’ making new work. That is, cleaning work from my last firing and putting them on Etsy.

Here are a few.


 

Truck accident

Tough month.

My wife had an accident in our truck and  walked away with only a few sore areas. She slid on a patch of ice and spun around 180 degrees, slamming into a guard post at about 60 kph. The truck was spun back into traffic and hit by 3, large, 10 ton trucks before it came to a rest. It is a miracle she wasn’t hurt. The slam into the pole ruptured the gas tank. It would only have taken a single spark to send things up in flames.  I got there about 40 minutes after she had the accident and took the photos.  The highway patrol officers were very professional as usual. They did have some wrong advice regarding injuries. They said that if we went to the hospital our insurance wouldn’t cover it. The reason is because the insurance company assumes the other people involved in the accident would have coverage. The facts are that since it was essentially a one person accident our insurance would have covered hospital visits if they were necessary. Luckily they weren’t.


 

Kintsugi

Here are some pictures of 4 pieces I am in the process of repairing. 3 vases and a guinomi. The most difficult one is the tall vase with the wide fissures. The second is the round type vase with 2 chips that extend from the top of the lip through to the bottom. They require shaping that rebuilds the lip, top, and bottom of the mouth. The other, smaller round vase has an easy to repair chip on the lip and a repair on the foot. The guinomi has chips that are very small. This type of kintsugi repair looks nice when done but the repairs are so small they are difficult to do.


 

Recent finds, 2-2013

Very interesting today. Here are some pictures.

The first pictures and a few others are of copper or brass bracelets. There are also a couple of stone bracelets. One alarming find is the piece in the blue cloth. I didn’t see it before I bid on the lot. It is bracelets that are still attached to a bone. I guess it was found as is. No wonder no one bid on the lot.
The ‘see no, hear no, speak no evil set is very interesting. It looks African to me. It is hand carved and the clothing is handmade.  The Buddha head looks Chinese to me. I always feel sad when I see these types of antiquities because the only way they get into any market is to be taken off the body they were paired with. There were some other heads in the auction today but I didn’t bid on them.

Kintsugi vocabulary.

These are from this PDF, http://www.bachmanneckenstein.com/downloads/Flickwerk_The_Aesthetics_of_Mended_Japanese_Ceramics.pdf

If you would like the kanji for each term you can get them from the bottom of the pdf file. The kanji are in picture format in the original file  so it wasn’t possible to put them here without re-entering them all.. The pdf is filled with great pictures too.

asobi =  play, pastime, entertainment, pleasure, aesthetic ideal
benigara/bengara
urushi  = red lacquer, lacquer colored with red ocher or iron oxide
chado = The Way of Tea
chaire = tea jar or tea container
chanoyu = tea ceremony
do-gu = utensils (for the tea ceremony)
e-urushi = picture lacquer, mixed from equal parts of transparent brown
kurome urushi and red iron oxide
fu¯ryu = aesthetic refinement
gindei = silver slurry, minutely pulverized silver-leaf
ginnaoshi = silver repair, lacquer repair with silver powder
hakogaki = literally “box writing”, a note certifying the quality of an art
object written on its storage box
hibiware = crack
hotsure = frazzle, small fractured areas along the rim of the lip or foot of
a ceramic object
hira maki-e = sprinkled picture with flat relief décor
iemoto = the head (e.g. of a school of tea)
kamakizu = “kiln wounds”, cracks which appear when ceramics are fi red
kindei = gold slurry, minutely pulverized gold-leaf
kinnaoshi =gold repair, to repair ceramic with lacquer and gold powder
kintsugi = to patch with gold, technique and artistic concept to repair ceramic
using lacquer with gold or silver powder
kintsukuroi = to repair with gold, technique and artistic concept to repair ceramic
with gold or silver powder
kirei sabi = elegant patina, aesthetic ideal
kisho¯mi urushi = pure lacquer
kuro urushi = black lacquer, lacquer colored with iron oxide or ebony black
kurome urushi = dehydrated raw lacquer
makibanachi = the sprinkling of powder into the lacquer surface
maki-e = sprinkled picture, décor enhanced with sprinkled powder
makifude = sprinkling brush, used to rub sprinkled powder into the lacquer
matcha = powdered green tea
mokuhen = pieces of wood used as substitutions for larger imperfect ions
mono no aware = literally “pathos of things”, also translated as empathy towards things
Glossary
mugi urushi = grain lacquer, mixture of kisho¯mi urushi and fl our glue
mushin = literally “no mind”, innocent, fully existing within the moment
nagori = remains, the waning days of autumn are known as the season
of nagori
nori urushi = glue lacquer, mixture of kisho¯mi urushi and rice glue
nyu¯ = hairline crack
o¯yose no chakai = public tea gathering
sabi = aesthetic ideal involving qualities of seclusion, ageing, patina
and/or decay
shinsha/shu urushi =red lacquer, lacquer colored with cinnabar
suki = artistic taste, love of refined art
suki urushi = transparent lacquer
sumikoage taka maki-e = sprinkled picture in raised relief, powdered charcoal is included in a built-up layer
taka maki-e  = sprinkled picture with décor in raised relief
tokonoma = small raised alcove in a Japanese style room
tomotsugi = original patches, technique and artistic concept using original pieces
toriawase = the careful and intentional combination (of various tea utensils for a
tea ceremony)
tsunoko = powdered stag’s antler
urushitsugi = to patch with lacquer
ursuhitsukuroi = to repair with lacquer
urushinaoshi = lacquer repair
urushiage taka maki-e = sprinkled picture with décor in raised relief and structure of
lacquer strata
wabi = aesthetic ideal involving qualities of poverty, simplicity, modesty
and undemandingness
yobitsugi = borrowed patches, technique and artistic concept with usage of
alien ceramic parts
46