20x14x2.5 Inch Reiho Oval Bonsai Pot #448 – Unglazed, Double Chop, Flared Thick Rim, Smooth Corners

A large unglazed oval from Reiho, the art name of Kataoka Katsushi, fourth generation at the Seizan Toen kiln in Tokoname. The workshop was founded in 1889, and that lineage is the part that shows in the pot. A potter raised inside a working kiln does not have to work out proportion, wall thickness or how a foot should meet the ground, because those answers were settled at the family table generations before he was old enough to throw. What is left is where to push, and Reiho pushes classic forms a little bolder than expected: crisp lines, deliberate corners, nothing soft or hurried.

Here that shows in the rim, which is thick and flares outward, and in corners left smooth rather than cut sharp. His glazes get most of the attention, but the unglazed work is where the construction is easiest to read, with no surface to distract from the line.

At 20 by 14 inches and only 2.5 inches deep this is a large, shallow oval. That combination is for a developed root system that no longer needs volume, for a forest or group planting, or for a wide deciduous tree where the pot should read as a plane rather than a container. It will dry faster than a deeper pot, which is worth knowing before you plant into it. Reiho is the name collectors reach for when they want genuine artist-made work at a price that still makes sense to use, and this is a pot to plant in rather than shelve.