12.5x9.5x4 Inch Bigei Rectangle Bonsai Pot #147 – Hand Carved Solid Clay, Unglazed, Chop & Nail Signed

An unglazed rectangle from Bigei, the working name of Hirata Atsumi, who potted in Tokoname until his kiln closed on his retirement. This one was carved from a solid block of clay rather than built up from slabs. That is the harder way to make a pot, and it is why the walls and corners read as one piece instead of as joined parts. There is no seam to find because there was never a join.

Bigei is best known for unglazed shudei, the reddish-brown clay traditional to Tokoname ware, rubbed and burnished by hand until it takes a smooth and almost lustrous surface. His forms pull toward the classical rather than the organic: symmetry, sharply defined lines, a bold silhouette. That finish is also the detail worth examining, because the buffing took hours no production line would spend, so how deep and how even the sheen runs is the clearest guide to a handmade piece. It carries a chop and a nail signature, the signature scratched into the clay by hand before firing.

At 12.5 by 9.5 inches and 4 inches deep this is larger than most of his output, which sat in the shohin and chuhin range, so a rectangle at this size is less common from him than a small one. Four inches gives real root volume, which suits a conifer or any tree carrying weight above the soil, and the unglazed clay recedes behind the tree rather than competing with it.