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Lot Essay
For two similar large 12th-century Tokoname jars with paddle impressions, one in the Aichi Prefecture Ceramic Institute in Seto, the other in the Tokoname Municipal Institute of Ceramics see Anjo shi Rekishi Hakubutsukan, ed., Aichi no chusei toki: Atsumi, Tokoname, Seto (Anjo: Anjo shi Rekishi Hakubutsukan, 1996), ill. 52; Sawada Yoshiharu, Tokoname, Atsumi, Echizen, Suzu in vol. 7 of Nihon toji taikei (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1989), pl. 7; Narazaki Shoichi, ed., Tokoname, Atsumi, Sanage in vol. 4 of Nihon toji zenshu (Tokyo: Chuo Koronsha, 1990), ill. 57.
The oldest Tokoname jars date from the 12th century, and two examples are precisely datable to 1125 and 1158. Many of these early jars were used for burial of Buddhist texts and have been excavated from sites in and around the town of Tokoname on the Chita peninsula, not far from Seto. Characteristics of 12th-century examples of Tokoname ware are the wide mouth, everted lip, and rounded shoulders tapering to a narrow foot. A wooden paddle was used to make impressed patterns that encircle the jar at the bulges or joints formed when the potter built up the vessel in sections. Natural ash glaze and kiln grit create patterns and textures admired now as a kind of "landscape."
The oldest Tokoname jars date from the 12th century, and two examples are precisely datable to 1125 and 1158. Many of these early jars were used for burial of Buddhist texts and have been excavated from sites in and around the town of Tokoname on the Chita peninsula, not far from Seto. Characteristics of 12th-century examples of Tokoname ware are the wide mouth, everted lip, and rounded shoulders tapering to a narrow foot. A wooden paddle was used to make impressed patterns that encircle the jar at the bulges or joints formed when the potter built up the vessel in sections. Natural ash glaze and kiln grit create patterns and textures admired now as a kind of "landscape."