Kutani International Decorative Ceramics Competition '97
| Incense burner,
Kutani Ware |
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There are only a handful of traditional porcelain wares in Japan,
but these have gained great fame. The names of Imari
and Kutani
ring round the world and have done so for centuries. Kutani
ware is known for its bold designs and large areas of brilliant
enamels; in October, 1997, the Kutani ceramics community (in
Komatsu city, Ishikawa Prefecture) was sponsoring an International
Decorative Ceramics Competition. There were two categories: designs
on paper for the decoration of a large porcelain plate and a
ceramic work decorated in overglaze, underglaze, or both. The
first category had received 811 entries from 44 countries, of
which 49 entries had been selected to be applied and fired
on a plate; the second category had 322 entries from 49 countries,
with 62 from 28 countries being selected. The award-winning
pieces were exhibited at the Komatsu
Dome in Ishikawa Prefecture. This opening up of a famous traditional
craft to stimulation and input from abroad was a radical departure
from the past (and is also happening in the world of weaving).
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Miraculous Development
In only a few decades in the 17th century, Japan's porcelain
industry developed from literally zero production to the world's
most celebrated work--in quality as well as quantity.
Korean potter Li Sanpei and his group of craftspeople are said
to have discovered porcelain stone in the Arita area of northern
Kyushu in the early 17th century. This simple story is more
legendary than factual, but however porcelain clay (kaolin)
was discovered in Japan, production in northern Kyushu expanded
immediately under the patronage of the local lords, who immediately
saw the economic potential of this industry. Korean and Chinese
craftsmen became involved not only in forming and firing but
in the celebrated porcelain decoration techniques of underglaze
cobalt and overglaze enamels. Neither of these decoration techniques
existed in Japan before porcelain production appeared. |
Decorating a large
plate,
Kutani Ware |
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The Beauty of White
White objects are important in human history. White things demand
time and effort to produce and thus are costly (with the exception
of linen and cotton cloth, perhaps). The brilliant white possible
with porcelain made this ceramic ware highly valued. (Europe
did not produce porcelain until 1710, when improved kiln design
allowed porcelain firing temperatures to be reached.) Until
the mid-17th century, China and Korea were the world's main
countries of porcelain production, largely because the climbing
kiln allowed the temperature control needed to reach the 1300°C
that porcelain clay demands. The advantages of producing this
wonder ware made the feudal lords of northern Kyushu zealously
guard the secrets of porcelain production and decoration.
The events that gave Japan the edge over China in porcelain
were political. In 1644, the Ming dynasty foundered. Among the
refugees from China who came to Japan were potters and porcelain
decorators as well as artists and intellectuals and Buddhist
leaders. The turmoil in China forced European merchants to look
for another source of Oriental porcelain. Thus sudden demand
stimulated Japanese porcelain production immeasurably. In a
very short time, the holds of Dutch ships returning to Europe
were filled with Japanese porcelain as ballast, and Japanese
porcelain wares appeared on the tables, and in the cupboards,
decorative niches and walls of palaces, chateaux, and mansions
of European aristocracy. The quantity of this ware in Europe
was and still is vast. In England alone, an excess of ten thousand
extant pieces has been estimated today. The quantity on the
European continent cannot be reckoned.
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The Japanese Creative Impulse
Though cobalt blue underglaze and polychrome overglaze enamel
decoration techniques were taught by Chinese and Korean craftsmen,
truly Japanese decoration appeared almost immediately. (The
17th century was one of Japan's great creative periods.)
The name of Sakaida Kakiemon becomes associated with a decoration
style from an early date, and the pristine and aristocratic
"Nabeshima ware" set a standard of quality. In the West,
all Japanese porcelain from northern Kyushu became known as
Imari after the Kyushu port from which it was shipped, and the
word "Imari" today is almost synonymous with Japanese
decorative porcelain outside of Japan.
In Europe, with Holland acting as a transshipment center, different
styles of Japanese porcelain went to different destinations.
England favored the airy and light Kakiemon style, characterized
by delicate and minimal decoration, while continental, particularly
German, taste gravitated toward the denser and weightier decoration,
using dark underglaze cobalt and thick areas of orange-red overglaze.
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| Teapot and teacups,
Mikawachi Ware |
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The Eartliest Energy
The very early porcelain wares of Kyushu, particularly the pieces
with spontaneous underglaze cobalt painting, generically known
as Old Imari, are still the most prized. Somehow, both in form
and decorative vigor, those first bubbling decades of porcelain
production were never surpassed. Styles became set, and the
production of the Kyushu kilns, however fine, lost its adventurous
energy.
Punishments for stealing porcelain production secrets from a
feudal doman were dire. Still, as is to be expected, feudal
industrial espionage was also effective, and the secrets did
escape. The result was a handful of porcelain industries in
various parts of Japan appearing in the 18th and 19th centuries.
That there are so few is a testament to how well the secrets
were kept. These local industries quickly defined their own
styles and became famous.
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Handwork and Modern Production
Since Japan's great Westernization of the late 19th century,
porcelain industries have in large adopted various Western production
methods, particularly industrial kilns and mold forming, while
decoration by and large remains a hand craft (though today's
sophisticated transfer methods are truly amazing). Today Japanese
porcelain in the traditional style is still a highly sought
genre in antique shops as well as contemporary outlets. |
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