Tsukamoto Mashiko Ware Traditional Glaze Soup Cup Black
£45.00
The black glaze on this soup cup does not read as flat or uniform. Across the body, the surface is heavily textured — coarse and granular, catching light across thousands of small raised points rather than reflecting it evenly. Where the glaze thins toward the…
Description
Description
The black glaze on this soup cup does not read as flat or uniform. Across the body, the surface is heavily textured — coarse and granular, catching light across thousands of small raised points rather than reflecting it evenly. Where the glaze thins toward the rim, a warm amber-brown emerges underneath, the transition from black to cream happening in a narrow band that shifts with the angle of the light. Tsukamoto has produced Mashiko ware from this clay since 1864, when first-generation Rihei Tsukamoto built the kiln that has since become the largest in Mashiko. Mashiko’s iron-rich local clay and its tradition of glazes derived from locally sourced stone give the ware its characteristic weight and depth — qualities that Shoji Hamada, the Living National Treasure who established his workshop in Mashiko in 1924, recognized as the foundation of a serious folk craft tradition. The interior of this cup is glazed in pale cream, the contrast between the two surfaces as direct as the form itself. Wide, rounded, and low — a cup that sits well in both hands.
