Square Bowl with a leaf design

Data

Explanation

Shino tableware, along with Oribe, is considered a representative dinnerware of Japan, and includes dishes, bowls, mukozuke and other vessels of various shapes decorated with delightful pictorial motifs. The bowl shown here is a type of Shino called Nezumi-Shino (Gray Shino). It is one of a set of five, the other pieces being owned by different collectors, but his particular piece is said to be the best of the five displaying the most from a flat base to form a deep, four-sided bowl having a very soft shape resembling flower petals. Nezumi-Shino is made by coating the surface of the entire piece with an iron-bearing slip called oni-ita, after which a thick coat of feldspathic glaze is applied. As the name suggests, the glaze turns gray after the firing, with warm reddish color showing here and there where the glaze was thin. Designs are added by cutting through the oni-ita slip to the white clay. When feldspathic glaze is applied, it fills the incised lines making the designs look as if inlaid, and after the firing, the motifs appear in white. Fire color is most prominent on the fully glazed base which has four loop feet.