London Gallery

不思議な土偶

一昨日の晩は、和塾の講座がありました。
奈良国立博物館の西山厚先生が、東大寺のお水取りについて楽しくお話してくださいました。
内容は、和塾のHPで公開なさると思いますので乞うご期待でございます！


さて、今回の展示の中でも特におもしろいと人気があるのが、
縄文土偶（縄文晩期・紀元前10~紀元前４世紀）です。




もとは胴体があったはずですが、頭部だけが残されています。

人の目の部分が強調して表現されたものと思われますが、
本当はどこかの星からこのような宇宙生物がやってきたのかも、
と思わせる雰囲気を醸し出しています。


しかし斜めから見たこの角度、本当にETのようではありませんか？！



また大きい方の後側は謎の渦を巻いています。




不思議な彼らもまだ東京におります！


The Mysterious Dogū

The day before yesterday we hosted a Wajuku lecture here in the gallery.

It was given by Atsushi Nishiyama-sensei from the Nara National Museum about a ceremony called Omizutori, which is held every year at the Tōdaiji temple in Nara. It was a great talk!

The content should soon be posted on Wajuku’s homepage, which is something to look forward to!

Getting back to our current exhibition, out of all the pieces on display, some of the most popular ones are these dogū [Final Jōmon period (1,000 – 300 BCE)].

They would have originally been attached to bodies, but now only the heads remain.

Their expressions seem to have been partially made by emphasizing the human eye, but somehow they seem reminiscent of alien life forms that came from some distant star.

Looking at it from this angle, doesn’t the smaller one really look like ET?

And on the larger one there is this enigmatic swirl twisting around in the back.

These mysterious guys are still in Tokyo, so don’t miss your chance to see them!

Today’s Hero! イノシシを持つ埴輪

本日はとっておきの方にご登場願います。

猪を持つ人物、埴輪です！！



埴輪は古墳時代（3～6世紀）につくられた素焼きの焼き物です。

この埴輪は、狩りで捕えたのでしょう、猪をわきに抱え、
「とったどー！」と言わんばかりの誇らしげな表情です。

猪も、「無念なり…。」というような顔をしており、同情してしまいます。

今夜はぼたん鍋？？




彼らのNY行きも近づいて参りましたので、まめにブログでご紹介できたらと思っております。



Today’s Hero

Today’s hero is a haniwa man carrying a boar under his right arm!!

Haniwa figures were made during the Kofun period (mid 3rd – 6th century).
They are made of clay fired at a low temperature.

It looks like this haniwa is just on the way home back from hunting. The figure
is holding an infant boar under his right arm and its face shows an expression of satisfaction and heroic pride.

The boar’s face, on the other hand, looks very disheartenend. Poor boar!
It might be tonight’s dinner!

Also this figure will leave soon for New York together with the other pieces of art which will be shown during the New York Asian Week. Until their departure I will try to introduce as many of them to you as I can.

須恵器俵型壺

ロンドンギャラリー、今日のしつらえです。



掛物は、風外慧薫（ふうがいえくん・1568～1654頃）「指月布袋図」です。

その前に、須恵器俵形壺（飛鳥時代）・鼠志野萩文額皿・織部四方手鉢（共に桃山時代）が
ございますが、注目していただきたいのはこちら。




この俵形壺、端正な形や自然釉の色、表面に斜めに入った筋文など、
見ているだけでも楽しいのですが…、今日は水仙を生けてございます！
本当に器が活きてきました。

須恵器とは、古墳時代～平安時代にかけて作られたやきものです。
それまでの土器は野焼きで焼成されていましたが、須恵器は、穴窯を用い高温で焼くことで
硬く焼き締め、強度を増すことができたそうです。

この俵形壺は、左側から水平に、緑色の自然釉が流れているのが不思議な景色であります。
これは右側を下にして焼いたためで、
降りかかった灰が溶け流れて美しい表情を見せているのですね。
是非ご覧ください。



London Gallery: Today’s Works of Art

※ Picture 1:

The hanging scroll is by Fūgai Ekun (1568 - c.1654) depicting Hotei Pointing at the Moon.

Below you can see a square Oribe ware with copper-green glaze, white and iron brown decoration under transparent glaze (Momoyama period), a grey
rectangular Shino ware with iron-slip underglaze and bushclover design
(Momoyama period) and finally a Sue ware with natural ash glaze in the shape
of a rice bale (Asuka period). Especially I would like you to pay attention to this last object (picture 2).

※Picture 2:

It is already very delightful to look just at the shape of this tawara gata (“bale shaped”) Sue ware with its natural ash glaze and its fine diagonal texture lines… However, today with the Narcissus inside it looks even more beautiful.

Sue ware was produced from the Kofun period to the Heian period. First Sue
ware was fired on an open field, while later for the production a cave kiln was
used. The ware was fired at a very high temperature so that it became as a
hard as stone. It seems that it was possible to regulate temperature of the kiln.

Very unusual to this piece is the flow of the glaze. You can see the green
natural ash glaze running horizontally from the left to the right side. This shows us that the ware must have been fired vertically standing on its right side.
While being fired ash fell onto the surface of the piece, melted and fused with it which gave the ware its beautiful look we admire today.

Please come by to see it!

月に秋草

ただいま展示しております、織部三日月向附です。

産地である岐阜県の弥七田窯にちなみ、弥七田織部（やひちだおりべ）と言われています。
弥七田織部は、薄造りですっきりとしたデザインのものが多いそうで、
この向附も、三日月に秋草がたなびいている風情を描き、緑釉を掛けた洒落たデザインです。
余白が活かされ上品な印象ですし、ところどころに入った赤色が効いています。

今展示してあるものはNYのアジアウィークに出品するもので、
もしかしますとこちらではご覧いただけなくなるかもしれません！

2月12日（土）までの展示を予定しております。



Today I would like to introduce you a set of five Oribe type wares in the shape of the moon.

Since they were made at the Yahichida kiln (Gifu prefecture) they are referred
to as Yahichida Oribe. Yahichida Oribe are usually very thinly made stonewares
which often have very beautiful designs. In the case of this set of Oribe you
can see winding autumn grasses on each moon shaped ware with green
overglaze enamels. They are really graceful! Especially the balance between
parts which were left blank and the design which is highlighted by the
application of red for the fruits gives a very elegant impression.

The current works of art will be displayed during the Asian Week in New York
this March. For this reason, this might be the last chance to see them here in
Japan.

The final day of this preview exhibition will be February 12th.

縄文土器のオーラ

現在展示しております、青森県から出土した縄文時代晩期（紀元前10～紀元前4世紀）の
亀ヶ岡式土器です。

高さが約45cmもある堂々たる土器ですが、写真のように薄造りです。


表面には流水文と思われる文様と細かな筋文があります。

今からおよそ3000年前に造られたというのに、この洗練された趣きは一体なんなのでしょう？！
是非実物をご覧いただきたいと思います。


今回の展示では特に、地震のないことを切に祈ってしまいます！



This is a vessel from the Final Jōmon period (B.C. 1000 – 400) which was found
in Kamegaoka (Aomori prefecture). Its height measures ca. 45 cm. Although the vessel is majestic in its appearance, it is very thin as you may see on the
picture.

On the upper part of its surface you can see something which is thought to be a flowing water pattern. On the rest of the vessel you can find a fine cord
pattern which is very typical for Jōmon earthen ware. Although the vessel was
made about 3000 years ago it has its special charm. I wonder, what is it that
makes it have this special aura?!

Please come by to see the vessel in real!

Especially for this exhibition I hope that no earthquake will occur!