Friday, September 9, 2011

What an undertaking!

When I started my quest to discover the artists, kilns and retailers who made and sold the pieces I have collected little did I know just how many kilns, and artists there were!  Since I have embarked on this project I have learned a lot of vocabulary, kanji characters and possible readings. I find it interesting that Japanese people are not necessarily any farther ahead than I am with reading the marks on the pieces.  Some artists writing reminds me of all the jokes made about the illegibility of doctor's handwriting.  The other factors of multiple readings of a character, as well as the carved "hanko" designs for making the marks on the pottery and the boxes make for a difficult task.  I will continue to share what I am learning and hopefully it will be of some use to my readers. Keep in mind that I am not Japanese and I am involved in a complex learning process!

3 comments:

  1. Well worth the effort; I am investigating imported B&W porcelain in England, and I don't understand Japanese.
    We have lots of material imported by "Andrea by Sadek" -it is gift ware, & a lot of the B&W appears to be Japanese, although Chinese factories are also used.
    Keep up the good work.

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  2. I appreciate the information you have posted up on your site alot. However I always find that the photos you took of the artists' marks are frequently so blur that I cannot make up the kanji. I wish you will invest in a better camera that takes macro pictures clearer so that all the hard work you have put in here will be better appreciated.
    Thank you for the effort!

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  3. Thank you for the critique. I will be improving some of the pictures, but will not be getting a special camera. I began this project as a hobby, a way of tracking my research. I never imagined that I would have so many people stopping by to read my blog. I do put this out for free so that others can benefit from my research. It is not meant to establish a value or to be used as a professional appraisal tool. It is what it is....a work in progress.

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