Gold and Platinum Painted Tachitate "Salamander" Black

This is a new gold and platinum-glazed *kiritate* (cylindrical) "Salamander" piece in black by Toru Ichikawa, who made a stunning debut after studying under Ryuichi Kakinoki. True to Ichikawa’s style of shaping his endless stream of ideas through the supreme medium of clay, this is an exceptionally creative and unconventional work. As the "black" title suggests, the seething gold glaze expressed in the "Salamander" series has been replaced by a boiling black glaze, which, combined with a rich, dark crimson glaze, dramatically alters the atmosphere. True to the name "Salamander," the distinctive black glaze looks like the scales of a lizard, possessing a voluptuous allure more akin to leather than to pottery. The fine grains within the seething gold are randomly changed to gold in several places, a detail that speaks to the artist's intensity and meticulousness. The gold glaze further accentuates the appeal of the black glaze, resulting in a mysterious work that seems to fuse leather goods, goldsmithing, and ceramics into one. The piece is titled *kiritate*, another name for a cylindrical *mukozuke* (side dish bowl); its lightness and ease of use make it suitable not only as a *mukozuke* but also as a small rock glass or a tea cup. Original signed box to follow (please allow some time for shipping)
Diameter 8.2cm x Diameter 7.8cm x Height 7.6cm Toru Ichikawa was born in Tokyo. He began studying under Ryuichi Kakinoki in June 2011 and became independent in Tamano City, Okayama Prefecture, in January 2015.