An Asian Duck Vase

#ceramics #duck

Something simple and almost folksy. A charming vessel depicting a duck or perhaps two ducks with the heads and tails forming handles. there was probably a missing lid ? This is probably Vietnamese but the source date was sparse on details. Enjoy!

Change of Theme coming! Butterflies

I'm expanding shifting and changing the Year of the Bird theme towards Flight and Flying and then Butterflies perhaps. So watch for new themes!

Most of the best Butterfly ceramics prints and paintings seem to date to the Qing dynasty?

This pair of double gourd shape vases are "famillerose" overglaze enamels form the Qing dynasty.

I am wondering if the overglazes developed during that dynasty allowing polychrome with richer colors plus the popularity and spread of  "how to paint" huapu books of examples are interrelated?

Guess the country of Origin

Can you guess where this was made?

One major clue is the particular shade of blue that the cobalt oxide underpainting fired to?

No its NOT Chinese or Japanese.

Ninsei Vase

A break from the diversity theme and a return to Birds

A vessel crafted by a #Japanese #Potter called #Ninsei showing the influence of #bunjinga or "scholar" style Japanese painting. Technical points: this shows what you can do with white slip if you don't have a pure white stone ware or porcelain clay available. I don't know if the black was applied to the slip or is an overglaze but I'm thinking underglaze over white clay slip. I think the way the exposed clay at base enhances the the rocks and foreground of the image. I'm also thinking another influence may be been early ukiyo-e style prints with limited colors. The painting however beautifully fits the curve of the vessel.

Good potters think in terms of form and color?

MEIPING and MAEBYONG

Closely related to the #chinese #meiping is the #korean #maebyong shape

For contrast here's a Chinese Meiping Ding style 

Whether they actually have plum blossoms or not as decoration the meiping shape throughout Asia  tapers inward from top to bottom and has a raised symmetrical mouth / rim. 

Some Modern Oribe

#Oribe #japaneseCeramics #ceramics

Here's a few examples of the use of the Oribe glaze by contemporary potters

First 2 #SuzukiGoro pieces

2 #KatoYasukage Works

The final piece is a Shatrov platter by an Australian working with oribe glazes just to remind you you don't have to be Japanese!

Traditional Oribe

#japaneseceramics #oribe #mino #ceramics

Here's some examples of traditional #Japanese #ceramic #Oribe glaze and style.
some are momoyama antiquities and others modern copies of traditional ORIBE.

My next Oribe post will show how some 20th potters have used the glaze and style.

Some Notes

As well as copper glaze partially covering an area of white slip with patterns there is "BLACK" Oribe black and white patterns using Oribe shapes and AO-Oribe in which the green glaze covers most of the vessel.

now for some modern one stuff inspired by ORIBE 

this one was made by a noted australian ceramicist

one of my attempts 

and a beautiful modern australian example of Ao- Oribe to finish 

Enjoy

Kingfisher Blues

Kingfisher Blues
Two Examples of Korean Blue and White Ware
#korean #ceramics

Who ever throw these vase shapes was a master of their craft with skills equal to the finest Chinese potters.  Korean painting while always vigorous on ceramics and other medium shows both a "folk" style with broad strong bold strokes and yet also very refined minimalism images like the bamboos in the top image.

Its also noteworthy how beautifully Korean paintings on ceramics flow around the form whether faceted or smooth.

The koreans also tend to avoid overall complicated patterns unlike some chinese pieces covered from footing to brim.

Vietnamese Blue and White Ware

The #Chinese #ceramics industry was not the only one using cobalt underglaze.
Certainly they were the first to use cobalt and NOT in a lead based glaze but other nations soon adapted to using it as well.

The #Vietnamese potters tended to use a darker more indigo underglaze and smaller shapes. Its a lesser known ware possibly because the export trade peaked and then dropped off during the 16th and 17th centuries as the Vietnamese like the Japanese exploited the disruptions to trade caused by conflicts between a failing Ming dynasty and the spread southwards of the Manchus.

Plus the introduction of polychrome wares and the European ceramics industry learning to adapt white EW clays to create their own wares reduced demand.

Here's some pictures to enjoy. The underglaze pigments seem a little coarser but the brushwork is often delightly fluid.

The pieces I have shown here actually date back to the 15th century.

This final image although looking more "chinese" is indeed Vietnamese!

Some sites  use the word Annamese rather than Vietnamese.

Nuka is NOT Chun

This is a followup to my Kang and Nuka Post.

Nuka often looks like CHUN but it is NOT.

Its more feldspathic than Chun and than there's the rice bran as an ingredient for the silica thing.

Yes I can hear some ceramicist saying but it looks a lot like Chun?

Take a close look. See how it runs in streaks .

Chun tends to be denser and cloudier.

Okay these 2 small bowls have oxide splashes on them but can you see the difference?

Just to complicate things there's another Chinese glaze called Shiwan which fires at lower temperatures like NUKA and I have found you can get similar effects to Shiwan and Nuka firing a speckled pattern created with underglazes in two different colors of blue light and dark under Chun.

To further complicate things  whehter a vessel is wood rather than gas fired can also effect the glaze.

NUKA is Japanese.

Chun originated in Song China.

I hope to firing some Chun vessels later this year After I have resolved problems with course cancellations and changes to pricing at TAFE and problems with finding a day elsewhere if I can get into WAC that does not clash with living an elderly relative in a aged care facility.

More later this year

Ceramics is as much a part of Asian culture as Calligraphy.

Coming soon a series on Ancient Chinese Bronzes.

Do the characters used to write their names tell us anything about them?