celadon bowl with foliated rim, Kawase Shinobu

Archive Label 2003: The distinguished potter Koyama Fujio once described the creation of celadon as using “amazing technology to change rocks and clay into something more beautiful than jade.” The thickness of the glaze, control of the iron content, and ability of the clay body to withstand heat without warping or collapsing are all essential to success. Heir to a superb technical tradition (his grandfather’s technique of firing blue and white porcelain was classified as an Intangible Cultural Property in 1955), Kawase Shinobu was rigorously trained in the family kiln his grandfather established in Kyoto. The luminescence of the glaze of this celadon bowl and playful elegance of the foliated rim are typical of Shinobu’s work. Archive Label: Kawase Shinobu is a third generation potter. In 1955, the technique of his grandfather, Chikushun I, in firing blue and white porcelain was classified as an Intangible Cultural Property. Shinobu first studied painting at the Kyoto Bijutsu Kōgei Gakkō (Kyoto School of Fine and Applied Arts), but then he told his father, Chikushun II, that he would rather be a potter than a penniless painter. His father acquiesced and began the rigorous training of his son (Chikushun II has said that his own military service in Burma in World War II was nothing compared to the severity of his apprenticeship as a potter).