My inspiration for this pot came from a 600-year-old rice wine jar that I was lucky enough to acquire on a trip to Yixing, China in 2003. The original, which was plowed up in a farmer’s field near Yixing, a city with a 1000+ year history of pottery making, was made on a foot powered potter's wheel, and fired in a wood-fired “Dragon Kiln”. I tried to get the same feel of the form by making these on my foot powered treadle wheel. I used a white clay slip underneath a wood ash glaze, which is how I think the original was done. Although mine were fired with natural gas, in a soda atmosphere, which can give a delicate luster to the unglazed areas.
The last photo in this listing shows the original Yixing rice wine jar on the left. It has diminutive strap handles that were meant for securing a piece of cloth over the mouth of the jar during fermentation. Some of my pieces inspired by it are on the right. To me these pots feel like distant relatives of an important ancestor. Having the original piece from 16th century China is an honor, and my hope is that my pieces are worthy descendants of their forebearer.
