This simple and elegant Shigaraki jar provides great insight into Japanese culture and the unique Japanese spirit of wabi-sabi. Wabi, the aesthetic of beauty found in imperfection, and sabi, a love for the old and worn, are underlying aspects of Japanese culture and play a fundamental role in the philosophy of the tea ceremony, Zen Buddhism and Shinto nature worship. The jar was created with rough clay and fired in a single-chamber kiln. Its multiple natural colour tones and cascading glazing – created by naked flames and liquefying ash – are the result of collaboration between the potter and the forces of nature.
Wayne Crothers, Curator, Asian Art