And one more Kutani piece - Cache Pot, Age?

[Kaaren B.]

This is my other piece of Kutani(it is Kutani, yes?) a cache pot that I am very fond of. Am I correct that this is a bit older than the miniature pitcher I posted a couple of days ago, that you thought was from the 1930s? I think the mark is clear in the upside down photo when you click on it; if not, please let me know. As always, thank you! Kaaren

[Stan]

Hi Kaaren, this is a Kutani mark the last mark is Tsukuru meaning Made, marks like this are rarely done with Kutani Tsukuru only, I think your cache pot is older from the Taisho period.

[Kaaren B.]

Thanks, Stan. When I went looking for similar items, they were all listed as late Meiji/early Taisho but you never know, when things are for sale, if people know what they are talking about or are being honest.

Any idea what those grey patches between the feet on the bottom are? They are rough, almost cement like, and all the same size and shape.

Could the potter have changed the placement of the feet in the process of making and firing it? I sort of doubt it but I can't think of anything else to explain those patches. K.

[Stan]

I see what you mean, I thought it to be a part of the decoration, is it glazed or unglazed in the grayish areas, if glazed it is part of the decoration, as the glaze would stick to stilts when fired.

[peterp]

Let me guess! They are unglazed, they cannot be glazed!
Every item needs to have some unglazed area on the bottom, be it either a foot rim, spur traces from stilts, or below the feet, anywhere. Here the feet are glazed underneath, thus there must be another unglazed area supporting the item in the kiln. These gray areas are the place where the item was standing in the kiln.

(...unless it was fired upside down, in which case the top rim would have to be unglazed, but I do not know if Japanese kilns used that method. Even on Chinese ceramics upside down firing was done only with plates and bowls. )

[Stan]

Perhaps a close up picture of the gray areas, thanks.

[Kaaren B.]

Thank you, Stan and Adept! Yes, the grey areas are unglazed, rough feeling.

Would the presence of those patches give more specific clues as to age? I haven't seen such things on the bottoms of more modern pieces.

I will try to take a better photo. Kaaren

[Stan]

Hi Kaaren, they do seem to be large kiln stilts if that is what they are called, I can imagine that they would be taller than the feet to keep them off the kiln floor, I have never seen such big ones for the piece usually the feet would be unglazed or both the feet and the bottom of the rim foot, I guess they had them on hand and so used them, but that is what the gray marks are kiln stilts, or maybe kiln blocks in this case.

[Kaaren B.]

Here is a better photo of the bottom. You can see that it almost looks as if a finger pressed this substance on, it feels like clay. The feet are actually glazed on their bottoms. Many thanks for all your information. K.

[Stan]

Thanks for the additional photo, It looks like they had difficulty stacking these kiln stilt/blocks in the kiln, you can see what appears to be smudges in the unglazed areas, the feet are higher that usual so the positioning must have been difficult before the firing in the kiln.

[Kaaren B.]

Apologies, Stan, for misreading your status "Adept" as another name. it just dawned on me looking at it! I feel silly - again. You were very polite not to mention it!

And, thanks for the interesting bits on the firing. Kaaren