A Lacquer Artisan's Bowl: Traces of Personal History

early twentieth century
2 3/4" x 6" diameter, 7 cm x 15.25 cm diameter

This small vessel is potent with history: it is the container used by a lacquer artisan to hold lacquer while working and, as such, we see what must be years of history contained within this bowl.

The inside is smooth with vestiges of black and red lacquer; one can imagine a soft, wide brush dipping countless times into this pot in the service of transferring liquid lacquer to a sleek surface.

The outside of the bowl--and pay special attention to the detail photos of it--is encrusted with what must be decades of dripping lacquer, the accretions appear almost like stone.

The bowl is dark in tone and subtle in appearance but when you realize what it is and what it has done in its lifetime it definitely has allure and a new beauty.

It is unfortunately not a terribly photogenic object but in person you will see that it is an exemplar of the concept of wabi-sabi or the idea the the passage of time as exerted on an object burnishes it with a special beauty, changing its character and bringing out  qualities that only the slow passage of time is able to do.

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