2 Inch Deep Suzuki Suzan Naban Bonsai Pot #200 – Decorative Rim, Unglazed, Chop Mark

A shallow naban from Suzuki Suzan, unglazed and finished with a decorative rim. A naban is a very shallow flat form, closer to a tray than to a conventional pot, and it exists for compositions where the soil is meant to disappear and the planting sits almost directly on the surface. At 2 inches deep this one is true to that.

Suzan worked almost entirely unglazed, in a clay body he developed himself by importing and refining material until it had real strength without the weight that usually comes with it. His pots tend to feel lighter in the hand than their size suggests. The smooth surface here is the point rather than an absence of decoration, and the rim carries the only ornament on the pot. It is chop marked, a pressed seal that identifies the kiln.

Two inches of depth is a real constraint and an honest one. This is a pot for a forest or group planting, for a root over rock composition, or for a single tree whose roots are fully developed and no longer need volume. It is not a pot for material still building mass. A vessel this shallow also dries faster than a deeper one, which is worth knowing before you plant into it.