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Ceramic Feature

Sometsuke Shonzui Koro (染付祥瑞香炉)

This is an Arita ware incense burner which Ryuzumi-san has created.
Chimon means that it's filled with the patterns like shippo cloisonne koshi lattice and others.
Sansui is the painting using Chinese ink and the subject is nature such as mountanis, rivers, valleys and others.
These two patterns are painted side by side.

Sometsuke (染付)
- A pottery with blue pictures and patterns on a white background-

It refers to the skill of blue-painting on a unglazed ceramic.
Patterns are painted with a "gosu" containing cobalt oxide that turns blue color.
And it's baked after being glazed on top of it.

Sometsuke has been made from the early days of Arita ware in 1610s.
At first it was influenced the Chinese pottery, there's a pile of efforts by potters and
today's sometsuke has one kind of exquisite beauty even in its simplicity.