Ash 釉皮 whale pumped, Kei Mori
Ash 釉皮 whale pumped, Kei Mori
Photos courtesy http://item.rakuten.co.jp/
Yellow Seto pumped, Kei Mori
Yellow Seto pumped, Kei Mori.
Photos courtesy http://item.rakuten.co.jp/
Taro Sugimoto's bean plates
Taro Sugimoto, bean plates.
Quince-yellow-green beans, Taro Sugimoto.
Beans quince, yellow, Taro Sugimoto.
Quince, green beans, Taro Sugimoto.
Taro Sugimoto, bean plates.
Photos courtesy http://item.rakuten.co.jp/
Le cocktail du jour: Cherry Mint Margaritas
Ingredients:
Lime wedge, sugar and salt (equal amounts combined) for rimming glass
1/4 cup fresh bing cherries, pitted
Half a dozen mint leaves
Sugar, to sprinkle
2 Tbsp agave nectar (or simple syrup)
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
4-6 Tbsp Tequila, silver or blanco (clear)
2 Tbsp cherry liqueur, or to taste
Club soda, chilled
Mint leaves and Cherries with stems, to garnish
Preparation:
Using a cut lime wedge, rub the lime around the outer edge of two chilled glasses; dip the glasses in the combination of salt and sugar. Fill the glass with ice.
Put the cherries and mint into a cocktail shaker, sprinkle with sugar and muddle with a muddler tool or a wooden spoon.
Add the agave nectar, lime juice, tequila and cherry liqueur and fill the shaker with ice.
Shake vigorously for 10-12 times; strain over 2 glasses and garnish with a mint sprig and cherry with stem.
Courtesy of Creative Culinary
Boucheron, Pinceaux de Chine, or Chinese Ink Brush collection
PINCEAU DE CHINE. The fifth and final collection, Pinceaux de Chine, or Chinese Ink Brush, is inspired by the Chinese calligraphy that has been central to the culture for thousands of years.
La collection Pinceau de Chine s’inspire d’un art multimillénaire au fondement-même de la civilisation chinoise, la calligraphie ou l’art de « bien écrire ». D’une simplicité apparente, la calligraphie requiert maîtrise et méditation, avant de figurer des œuvres matures et sensibles.
Après des années d’expérience et de savoir-faire, les « Mains de Lumière » ont exercé leur talent en un acte inaugural : signifier le trait unique d’un pinceau joaillier qui se veut également magique…
To capture the magic of the calligrapher's brush, Boucheron artisans used pure rock crystal melting into diamonds set in supple white gold.
Boucheron Pinceau de Chine rock crystal and diamond necklace.
The refined simplicity of the Pinceau de Chine is a study of purity with rock crystal and diamonds.
Black ware bowl with white rim, 11th - 12th century, Northern Song Dynasty
Black ware bowl with white rim, 11th - 12th century (1001 - 1200), Northern Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1127), stoneware, thrown, with black iron glaze; rim, covered in white slip under a transparent glaze; unglazed base, 5.2 cm (height) - 11.6 cm (diameter). Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust. LI1301.385, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford © The University of Sussex
The bowl has rounded conical sides with an everted rim, and a straight, nearly solid foot with broad, shallow footring. The inside and outside are glazed in a glossy black, turning brown where it is thinner, near the rim and in patches on the outside, with a broad band at the rim wiped free of black glaze, dipped in white slip and covered with a transparent glaze. Slivers of grey biscuit and white slip are exposed between the two glazes. The footring and base are also free of glaze and slip, and above the glazed foot is an unglazed groove. Fine grit adheres to the footring.
Black ware bowl with white rim, 1020 - 1120, Northern Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1127)
Black ware bowl with white rim, 1020 - 1120, Northern Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1127), stoneware, with white and black iron glazes; unglazed base; glazed rim, 5.8 cm (height) - 13 cm (diameter) - at base 9.2 cm (diameter). Presented by Sir Herbert Ingram, 1956. EA1956.1125, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Cizhou type dish with floral decoration, Cizhou kiln-sites, 11th century
Cizhou type dish with floral decoration, Cizhou kiln-sites, 11th century (1001 - 1100), stoneware, covered in white slip, and with black slip-painted decoration under a transparent glaze; unglazed base; glazed rim, 4 cm (height) - 18 cm (diameter) - at foot 6.6 cm (diameter). Presented by P. H. Wikramaratna, in memory of his wife Nancy, 1992. EA1992.109, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Cizhou ware vase with floral decoration and foliated rim, Cizhou kiln-sites, 12th - 13th century (1101 - 1300), Jin Dynasty
Cizhou ware vase with floral decoration and foliated rim, Cizhou kiln-sites, 12th - 13th century (1101 - 1300), Jin Dynasty (1115 - 1234), stoneware, thrown, covered in white slip, and with brown slip-painted decoration under a transparent glaze; unglazed base, with ink inscription; glazed rim, 20.3 cm (height) - 9.4 cm (diameter) - at base 7.4 cm (diameter). Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust., LI1301.187, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford © The University of Sussex
This piece, which is inscribed in ink with a date, has often been used as evidence for dating a whole range of painted ‘Cizhou’ ware. The date, however, is inscribed on a double base, which most probably was added later. Although the base fits very well in shape and size, the custom of adding a separately made base to a vessel is not known from the Jin dynasty (1115–1234).
The partly illegible inscription reads ? yu ? ? nian wu yue chu (‘beginning of the fifth month of the … year of the …yu period’) and the date has been interpreted as ‘eleventh year of Chunyu’, a reign period of the Southern Song dynasty, the year corresponding to 1251. Neither the first character of the reign name, nor the figure are clearly legible, however, and it seems surprising to find a piece made in North China to be inscribed with a Southern Song date.
The vase has a wide shoulder, a narrow waisted neck which flares to a foliated five-lobed rim, and rests on a wide foot, which is supported on a separately attached, conical plinth. The shoulder shows two grooves. The buff stoneware is slipped, painted in iron-brown with a floral sprig on both sides, each with a pendant pointed bloom among foliage, and covered with a crazed, yellow-tinged transparent glaze, which stops around the foot. The support is unglazed, the joint hidden under white slip. The underside of the support is inscribed in black ink with eight Chinese characters.
Cizhou ware vase with floral decoration, Cizhou kiln-sites, 12th - 13th century (1101 - 1300), Jin Dynasty (1115 - 1234)
Cizhou ware vase with floral decoration, Cizhou kiln-sites, 12th - 13th century (1101 - 1300), Jin Dynasty (1115 - 1234), stoneware, thrown, covered in white slip, and with brown slip-painted decoration under a transparent glaze; unglazed base; glazed rim, 24.7 cm (height) - 12.5 cm (diameter) - at foot 7.2 cm (diameter). Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust., LI1301.189, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford © The University of Sussex
This form, known in Chinese as meiping (‘prunus blossom bottle’), was one of the most characteristic Chinese shapes since the Song dynasty (AD 960–1279). Examples were produced by most Chinese kilns and remain popular until today. Compare also a jar with a similar design in the Barlow Collection [LI1301.330].
The piece is well potted, of slender form, tapering from the rounded shoulders towards the base, where it is slightly flared, and terminating in a low, narrow neck with an everted sloping rim. The base is recessed and has a high footring. The yellowish-beige stoneware bears a white slip, applied in two layers, and is painted with three brown foliate sprays under a transparent glaze. The different layers of slip and glaze are ending unevenly above the base, leaving footring and base in the biscuit.
