Located in Kannami, Shizuoka, Akihiko Watanabe is currently the only artist in Japan who wood-fires celadon. The anagama kiln of his own design is single-chambered, partly buried, and strategically built on a 14 degree slope. His celadon glaze is largely the same for all of his pieces; differences in colour come from clay bodies and, most importantly, kiln placement.

This cup is an example of Watanabe’s beishokuji celadon, which roughly translates to celadon that is the colour of raw or unrefined rice. A very warm-toned ivory, this cup’s delicate colour is partly due to its very light kaolin clay body. Watanabe designed his anagama kiln specifically for this kind of celadon, using a front area of the kiln which fires in reduction up to 1450°C.

However, around 1000°C, Watanabe allows a controlled amount of oxygen into the kiln resulting in the signature beautiful warm tones of beishokuji. And perhaps this combination of reduction firing with small amounts of oxygen is responsible for the colour of this cup’s crazing. Covered with a fine web of purple-pink kannyu, Watanabe’s delicate contrast of ivory and pink is a fine example of beishokuji celadon.

Comes with the signed, stamped, and titled wood box, stamped wrapping cloth, and CV.