Katsumi Nimiki - Kiln Change Round - 7½ in (19cm)

Hand thrown, the flashing colours are from the flame path in either a gas or wood fired kiln. There are many craft potteries in Japan that show this kind of work, especially Bizan wares, but Katsumi is from Tokyo and wanted to to express the same effect in bonsai pottery. The potter has chosen not to add a gap at the foot so that the view wouldn't be compromised by the orientation chosen by the bonsai artist.

This particular example somehow became distorted during the firing, the form is a bit squashed and one side has stuck to something else in the kiln, so there is a 1.5cm long rough patch you can see in photos 4 and 8. Despite this, the potter let it out into the world and so obviously didn't mind it. It's very common to see these marks on unprotected wood fired pots, i.e. Bizan ware, not so much in bonsai pots, but it does have character and comes at a much reduced price!

Condition: Unused, kiln sticking mark on side (see photos 4 and 8).

Katsumi Nimiki,  Tokyo. He started pottery in 1985 and opened a gallery called Gallery Katsunobo (No references found online sadly), and pursued the effects of kiln changes and flame paths on pottery for at least 25 years. Earlier works were criticised for having a foot gap in inconvenient places, but I think now that these are uncommon pots, a bonsai artist might be able to work around such things!