c. 2000

Bottle

Japanese, born 1952

A largely self-taught potter, Minegishi Seikö began experimenting with celadon glazes after a visit to the Tokyo National Museum, where he became fascinated with crackled Kuan wares from Song dynasty (960-1279) China. This bottle shows the effects of Minegishi's triple glazes and the crackling produced by the different rates of shrinkage between the clay body and the glaze layers when the piece was removed from the kiln for cooling. Minegishi calls this brownish celadon "rice color" for its resemblance to unrefined grain. The vertical fluting of the body emphasizes the mottled effect of the crackling and the darker color of the body at the ridges where the glaze is thinner.