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Lot Essay
PUBLISHED:
Matsudaira Norimasa, Kimura Juke, and Tanaka Toshio, eds., Shirarezaru goyo eshi no sekai ten (Exhibition of the world of unknown painters with imperial patronage), exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 1998), pl. 52.
Yamane Yuzo et al., eds., Nihon no bi "Rimpa" ten mokuroku (Catalogue of the exhibition Japanese Beauty: Rimpa), exh. cat. (Tokyo: NHK, 1996), pl. 35.
Richard Wilson and Ogasawara Saeko, Ogata Kenzan: zensakuhin to sono keito (Ogata Kenzan: His life and complete works), vol. 1 (Tokyo: Yuzankaku, 1992), pl. 48.
Richard L. Wilson and Ogasawara Saeko, Kenzanyaki nyumon (Primer for Kenzan ware) (Tokyo: Yuzankaku, 1999), fig. 2, p. 73.
Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) is Japan's most famous potter. His work is highly original, non-traditional, playful and painterly. Kenzan opened his relatively secluded Narutaki kiln in 1699 in the northwest (ken) mountains (zan) of Kyoto. This dish was most likely made just before he left Narutaki in 1712 to start his second kiln, a commercial pottery at Nijo Chojiyamachi on the main business thoroughfare in downtown Kyoto. Towards the end of his dozen years at the Narutaki kiln Kenzan began to use Korin-style floral decoration as seen here. The large "Kenzan" signature on the base is also typical of this period.
Kenzan adapted the "cornered dish" (kakuzara) from a lacquer or wood model. Roughly the size of a traditional poem page, or shikishi, it provided the perfect surface for a painting. Such dishes were probably intended for serving light snacks at a tea ceremony. The box inscription for this example indicates that it was originally one of a pair of cake dishes.
In 1737 Kenzan recorded the complex glaze recipes for his delicate color harmonies in a pottery manual called Toko hitsuyo (Potter's Essentials). The green and blue on this dish belong to this category of distinctive colors associated with wares he produced at the end of the Narutaki period and beginning of the Nijo Chojiyamachi period. These are his so-called "underglaze enamels." The colors are painted directly onto the unglazed, low-fired (bisqued) body and are then covered with a clear glaze made of lead oxide and powdered silicate rock, and fired again. The resulting design has a slightly blurry, painterly quality resembling a painting on absorbent paper.
The Kenzan brand of pottery became a popular, long-lasting tradition stretching over several centuries. There are many thousands of extant pots with a Kenzan signature or seal. Dating and authentication are complex. Kenzan ran a typical business-like craftsman's studio with assistants responsible for molding, throwing and firing the pots. The dish shown here is among the core group of works accepted as authentic products of the master's own workshop, that is, works produced under Kenzan's supervision with varying degrees of personal participation by the master himself. During the Narutaki period most of the designs were painted by Ogata Korin (1658-1716), Kenzan's older brother. There is good reason to think that the Rimpa-style design on this dish with thistle was drawn by one of the best craftsmen in Korin's studio.
There are two other rectangular dishes whose style is so close to this example that one must conclude they were painted at the same time. One has a design of Chinese bellflowers, the other a design of blossoming cherry trees (see Richard Wilson, The Art of Ogata Kenzan [New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1991], pl.11 for the dish with bellflowers and Nihon no bi 'Rimpa' ten mokuroku, pl. 36 for the dish with cherry trees).
Matsudaira Norimasa, Kimura Juke, and Tanaka Toshio, eds., Shirarezaru goyo eshi no sekai ten (Exhibition of the world of unknown painters with imperial patronage), exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 1998), pl. 52.
Yamane Yuzo et al., eds., Nihon no bi "Rimpa" ten mokuroku (Catalogue of the exhibition Japanese Beauty: Rimpa), exh. cat. (Tokyo: NHK, 1996), pl. 35.
Richard Wilson and Ogasawara Saeko, Ogata Kenzan: zensakuhin to sono keito (Ogata Kenzan: His life and complete works), vol. 1 (Tokyo: Yuzankaku, 1992), pl. 48.
Richard L. Wilson and Ogasawara Saeko, Kenzanyaki nyumon (Primer for Kenzan ware) (Tokyo: Yuzankaku, 1999), fig. 2, p. 73.
Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) is Japan's most famous potter. His work is highly original, non-traditional, playful and painterly. Kenzan opened his relatively secluded Narutaki kiln in 1699 in the northwest (ken) mountains (zan) of Kyoto. This dish was most likely made just before he left Narutaki in 1712 to start his second kiln, a commercial pottery at Nijo Chojiyamachi on the main business thoroughfare in downtown Kyoto. Towards the end of his dozen years at the Narutaki kiln Kenzan began to use Korin-style floral decoration as seen here. The large "Kenzan" signature on the base is also typical of this period.
Kenzan adapted the "cornered dish" (kakuzara) from a lacquer or wood model. Roughly the size of a traditional poem page, or shikishi, it provided the perfect surface for a painting. Such dishes were probably intended for serving light snacks at a tea ceremony. The box inscription for this example indicates that it was originally one of a pair of cake dishes.
In 1737 Kenzan recorded the complex glaze recipes for his delicate color harmonies in a pottery manual called Toko hitsuyo (Potter's Essentials). The green and blue on this dish belong to this category of distinctive colors associated with wares he produced at the end of the Narutaki period and beginning of the Nijo Chojiyamachi period. These are his so-called "underglaze enamels." The colors are painted directly onto the unglazed, low-fired (bisqued) body and are then covered with a clear glaze made of lead oxide and powdered silicate rock, and fired again. The resulting design has a slightly blurry, painterly quality resembling a painting on absorbent paper.
The Kenzan brand of pottery became a popular, long-lasting tradition stretching over several centuries. There are many thousands of extant pots with a Kenzan signature or seal. Dating and authentication are complex. Kenzan ran a typical business-like craftsman's studio with assistants responsible for molding, throwing and firing the pots. The dish shown here is among the core group of works accepted as authentic products of the master's own workshop, that is, works produced under Kenzan's supervision with varying degrees of personal participation by the master himself. During the Narutaki period most of the designs were painted by Ogata Korin (1658-1716), Kenzan's older brother. There is good reason to think that the Rimpa-style design on this dish with thistle was drawn by one of the best craftsmen in Korin's studio.
There are two other rectangular dishes whose style is so close to this example that one must conclude they were painted at the same time. One has a design of Chinese bellflowers, the other a design of blossoming cherry trees (see Richard Wilson, The Art of Ogata Kenzan [New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1991], pl.11 for the dish with bellflowers and Nihon no bi 'Rimpa' ten mokuroku, pl. 36 for the dish with cherry trees).