Sold together with the original invoice and letters between the original owner and Westminster gallery discussing the exhibition loan.
Throughout her career, Rie revealed little about her artistic techniques as onlookers marveled at the unparalleled beauty and complexity of her ceramics.
‘I work in a completely unorthodox manner, no longer using any form of scientific method, I glaze my pots raw, often using a number of glazes on top of each other and somet.mes s between one glaze and the next layer of slip.’
Using an electric, oxidizing kiln to fire her pieces, she created rich, nuanced glazes and in a wide range of colors. Particularly towards the end of 1970s, Rie experimented with bright pinks, blues, and yellows, creating exquisite low footed bowls incorporating a dripping bronze glaze at the rim and incised lines, as seen in the present lot. The old-fashioned kiln that she used to fire these later pieces testify to the potter’s prodigious mastery over the chemical aspect of firing complex pots and creating vivid colors.