Bizen teacup

This Bizen teacup is by Takashi Soga, who challenges the aesthetics of antiquity by recreating the environment in which Old Bizen was fired. To replicate the style of the Old Bizen period, he avoids the use of firebricks and other modern materials, firing in a kiln where modern logic regarding thermal efficiency simply does not apply; consequently, the piece displays an exquisite texture that transcends contemporary beauty, approaching the aesthetic of Old Bizen itself. Produced in an unconventional kiln without a chimney, shelves, or firebricks, the piece exhibits unprecedented reactions, resulting in a mysterious finish with a black Bizen-like body streaked with silver, lightning-like *hidasuki* (fire cord) markings. Blue-silver grains, looking as though they were scattered by silver hail, are visible on the clay surface, and the more one gazes at it, the more one is drawn into this mysterious world of black and silver. Paper box
Diameter 7.0cm × Diameter 6.8cm × Height 10.1cm Takashi Soga was born in Tokyo in 1984. He apprenticed under Jun Isezaki in 2009 and built his own kiln in Kukuin, Bizen City, in 2012. He became independent in 2013 and began his career as a ceramic artist.