6 Inch Deep Sara Rayner Cascade Bonsai Pot #10008 – Rustic Thin-Walled, Unglazed, Nail Signed

The feet are where to start on this one. Across Sara Rayner's career the feet went from an afterthought to one of the most considered elements of the whole pot, and the work on these sits at the detailed end of that shift. Above them a slender band runs around the middle of the body, which is what gives a cascade bold form instead of letting the height read as a plain column.

It is a cascade, unglazed, with thin walls and an imprint pressed into the side. Rayner came to bonsai out of functional pottery, shaping cups and teapots for years before her pots ever held a tree, and thin even walls on a form this tall are that training showing through. She signs by scratching the mark into the clay rather than pressing in a stamp.

At 6 inches deep this is a deep, narrow pot and should be used as one. Cascade and semi-cascade material is what it is for, where the trunk falls below the rim and the roots need volume the footprint cannot provide. It is the wrong pot for a formal upright. Sitting high on a stand, a cascade is usually seen from below, which is exactly where the feet and the band do their work.