Vase
19th Century Agano Gourd Vase
An elegant Kyushu piece today, this is a gourd vase from the Agano kilns in Fukuoka prefecture. The Agano style recently celebrated 400 years of tradition and was the cover story in a past issue of TOHSETSU, the journal of the Japan Ceramic Society. I find charm, great beauty and strength in Agano of this style; the glazing is divine and the form is pleasing to gaze upon. Agano has many kinds of glazing and this one is known as rokusho-nagashi or 'running glaze.' It's basically ladling a green glaze over an ash-straw glaze or white slip. I enjoy how the green glaze flowed to the upper portion and 'froze' and also the minute crackles in the white lower portion, and of course the contrast of colors and elegance of form. There is a round Agano seal on the base and a stamp that is illegible; with a neat old signed box, Ko-Agano Yaki, Gourd form, Nakamura...? In excellent condition, small hairline on mouth-negligible, 28.5cm.tallx14.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS
