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Ceramic Feature

Nabeshima Sometsuke Botanmon Tezukuri Kabin (鍋島染付牡丹文手造り花瓶)

This is a Nabeshima ware vase which Aoki-san has created.
She painted the peony design with underglaze in blue.

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.

The production of Sometsuke has been started since Edo period.
It was Nabeshima-Hanyo which was founded as a directly managed business for Saga-Nabeshima domain.
A wide variety of ceramics are made such as ironabehsima, sometsuke and seiji as a gift to the lord.
It's still passed down as a hidden treasure even today.

Aoki-san also preserves the technique and works hard to make ceramics that's suitable for today's life.