Vintage Japanese Slipware Dish

Originating in 17th-century Staffordshire, England, slipware is a technique of decorating coarse earthenware with liquid clay ("slip") trailed through a quill or tube, then fired under a lead glaze that gives each piece its characteristic warm, honey-toned finish. The craft was introduced to Japan in the early 20th century by two potters, Bernard Leach and Hamada Shōji. Hamada saw in these anonymous folk wares exactly what his friend Yanagi Sōetsu was championing through the Mingei movement: beauty born from function, made by hand, without pretension.

Slipware took root in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, where Hamada established his kiln, as well as in the San'in region of western Japan, where a local material — Kimachi stone — produces a warm yellow glaze remarkably similar to the galena glaze used on traditional English slipware.

This particular vintage dish is from the San'in region, decorated with traditional slipware patterns.

φ16.5cm × H3cm / 6.5" × 1.2"