DOUBLE GOURD VASE by YAMAMOTO Ichiyo

I created the ‘Platinum Imari’ style inspired by the geometric and arabesque designs typical of oriental ceramics, and the beauty of traditional Japanese kimonos

Yamamoto’s focus on developing a platinum overglaze gilding began in the mid 1980s, but it would be another 20 years before he perfected the technique, through the creation of a stable, 98% pure, platinum glazing solution. This work is entitled seigaiha kujaku moyo – ‘blue sea wave and peacock pattern’ – and the perfect, shimmering, precision of the final piece entirely reflects the painstaking techniques required throughout. Yamamoto’s work has been widely praised in Japan and internationally.

This work was published in the monograph The Lustrous World of Ichiyo Yamamoto: The Sublime Lure of Platinum; Heibonsha; Japan 2015