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Ceramic Feature

Nabeshima Sometsuke Mokkomon Gosun Kodai Sara (鍋島染付木瓜文五寸高台皿)

This is a Nabeshima ware dish which Kawasoe-san has created.
The delicate line drawings that characterize Nabeshima ware.
He thinks that is exactly what Nabeshima-stye plate is.

Kodai-sara
Kodai means trimmig a high footring of dish.
It leads to a sense of elegance.
Back to the Edo period, it was presented to the shogun's family.
The inside of the dish is also deep and the shape looks lile Japanese mokuhai cup.

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.

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