Blue Bizen vessel with white clay patterns 01
Artist
Suzuki, Miki
(Japanese, born 1970)
Date2012
Mediumstoneware
Dimensions45.1 x Diam. 22.9 cm (17 3/4 x Diam. 9 in.)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineGift of Suzuki Miki through TOBI and Onishi Gallery
Object number2013.45
Label TextSuzuki Miki was born in Bizen, Okayama, as the first son to the famous ceramist Suzuki Koichi (1942-). Eager to learn about ceramics of different traditions outside of his native Bizen, he went to Kyoto and studied at the Ceramic Training School. Following his schooling, he studied for years with the ceramist Okamoto Akira (1941-), including one year in Jingdezhen, China.
HIs most recent endeavor is called ao-Bizen (Blue Bizen), in which a peculiar blue color is achieved solely through firing, and not by glazes or by applying pigments. It was Suzuki’s determination and persistence through the process of trial and error that he was able to achieve the high skills required for this delicate firing process.
In addition, his application of white clay to this blue surface using the itchin decorative technique (applying slip with a bamboo tube to a vessel's surface), adds the interesting effects of convex white patterns of hakudei-mon, or white clay patterns, on his vessels. This is the artist's original creation and also new to Bizen wares, which have a long history beginning with Sue-ki, the gray unglazed stonewares, first said to be introduced to Japan in the fifth or sixth century by Korean immigrants. Suzuki believes his goal as a ceramist of a younger generation in tradition-laden Bizen, is to embrace history while challenging himself to explore stoneware creation to its fullest potential.On View
Not on view
1400s–1500s
Chinese
late 11th century –early 12th century, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127)
Si Satchanalai kilns
mid-–late 15th century