Awaji pottery has got its name after the Japanese island at which it was made during a period of about one hundred years, between 1830 and 1939. Most of the pieces we find are made from the mid 1870's when Awaji began to export its products, to the mid to late 1930's when the last of the kilns closed.
Earlier wares are catering to the Asian taste and could be find imitating Chinese monochromes from the Kangxi period and later while from the turn of the century the shapes are more inspired with the western art movement such as Art Deco (Jugend) and Art Noveau.
Awaji pottery is usually hand thrown where smaller earlier pieces and application ornaments appear to have been press molded. The body is made of high-fired, white or cream colored clay that borders on stoneware and can vary from pink or buff, to white to grey.
The glazes are lead based and often brilliant in tone, typically are translucent and finely crackled. The lead gives the colors brilliance and makes the translucent enamels glassy and often iridescent.
Most common are the Awaji monochromes such as grass green, yellow ranging from pale lemon to deep amber, cobalt blue, aubergine, light green, blue, light and dark turquoise, mirror-black, and burgundy. Other wares can feature two-tone glazes, three-color glazes (very similar to Chinese sancai), pieces with incised decoration (most commonly featuring irises), and applied relief decoration. Also more gaudy examples from the last decade are Flambé and drip glazed wares similar to Japanese Sumida and Chinese Shiwan pottery with generous layers of thick glaze.
Pre-export period 1831-1980
The kilns were started in 1831 by a doctor named Minpei in the village of Iga. Dr. Minpei was an industrious man with many interests. In 1834, Ogata Shuhei, a highly esteemed Kyoto potter, came to work with Minpei for two years. A wide variety of fine wares were made in the fifty years which followed.
The kiln made fine Satsuma-type pieces in the Kyoto or Awata style with geometric and natural designs. Underglaze-blue decoration, carved celadons, ceramics that imitated bronzes, and bright yellow and green monochromes with incised designs.
From 1842 the kiln was granted an 'official kiln' status and twenty years later in 1862 Minpei retired, and the kiln was taken over by his son Rikita and nephew Sanpei.
Western inspiration from the 1880s
By the 1870's, Rikita and Sanpei were each running kilns of their own, and exhibiting in the International Exhibitions, where their wares were well received.
The interaction with counterparts in Kyoto also continued and pieces from both regions continued to share similar raw materials and processes as well as nearly identical forms, glazes, and decorative techniques. They each used cream colored pottery clay with brilliant enamel glazes, fired to approximately the same temperature. Each used the point bottle form and the popular squared buttress handle form.
Art Nouveau style (late 19th to early 20th centuries)
The forms became simpler and more organic. Bright green, yellow, and blue glaze grounds were used both as monochromes and combined to show off the forms, or as grounds under carved, incised and applied decorations .
Art Deco (1900-1920)
Boldly geometric style characterized by architecturally squared buttress handles and feet, along with rocket and other space-age forms.
The closing years
Sanpei's kiln produced an impressive array of extremely creative art pottery. A number of new glazes were developed, many of which are now used in striking flambé mixes. In 1939 the kilns closed in 1939 as the export market dropped off preceding World War II.
Marks
The most common mark is the Sanpei flag. This and the "Danto" (company) chidori (bird mark) seems to have begun during the 1880s.
The pieces stamped "JAPAN" were produced between 1890 and 1922.
The impressed "MADE IN JAPAN" mark on Awaji pottery was used between 1922 and the kilns' closings in 1939.
Jan-Erik Nilsson
Gotheborg.com
| AWAJI | |
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Awaji pottery has got its name after the Japanese island at which it was made during a period of about one hundred years, between 1830 and 1939. Most of the pieces we find are made from the mid 1870's when Awaji began to export its products, to the mid to late 1930's when the last of the kilns closed. Earlier wares caters to the Asian taste and could be found imitating Chinese monochromes from the Kangxi period and later, while from the turn of the century the shapes are more inspired with the western art movement such as Art Deco (Jugend) and Art Noveau. Awaji pottery is usually hand thrown. The body is made of high-fired, white or cream colored clay that borders on stoneware and can vary from pink or buff, to white to grey. The glazes are lead based and often brilliant in tone, typically are translucent and finely crackled. The lead gives the colors brilliance and makes the translucent enamels glassy and often iridescent. Most common are the Awaji monochromes such as grass green, yellow ranging from pale lemon to deep amber, cobalt blue, aubergine, light green, blue, light and dark turquoise, mirror-black, and burgundy. Other wares can feature two-tone glazes, three-color glazes (very similar to Chinese sancai), pieces with incised decoration (most commonly featuring irises), and applied relief decoration. Also more gaudy examples from the last decade are Flambé and drip glazed wares similar to Japanese Sumida and Chinese Shiwan pottery with generous layers of thick glaze. | |
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1054. Awaji ware, with Sanpei flag and stamped country of origin JAPAN, which occurred between 1890 and 1922. |
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1055. Awaji ware, with Sanpei flag only, suggested date between 1890 to 1920s. |
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1136. Japanese Awaji ware from 'Early Showa' where Showa was 1926-1988 and 'Early Showa' is often used to cover the Showa reign before 1945. Since Awaji cloed in 1939 this dates the vase to around 1930. |
The gotheborg.com marks page was originally initiated by a donation of marks from the collection of Karl-Hans Schneider, Euskirchen, Germany in July 2000. The section have since then been greatly extended by a large number of contributing collectors.