Shoji Hamada bought at auction

Having seen the thread under ID My Pottery about Hamada I suspect I may regret posting these two, but here goes.... I bought them as being by the great man from Alastair Hawtin's sale last year. The first is a tiny moulded hexagonal dish which was apparently made by Hamada when on tour in the States in the 1960s and sold to an American college professor. It has a chipped rim. 8.5cm (diameter) 2.7cm (height). Unmarked.





The second piece from the Hawtin lot is a nuka glazed shallow bowl. I wonder if it's a glaze experiment as I've never seen anything like it by Hamada elsewhere although the footring is identical to the piece above, even down to the specks of black ash or soot. Whatever, I love it, the bubbly white over the blue reminds me of a dark evening sky with the stars just starting to show   . 20.8cm (diameter) 4.9cm (height).




There are some great information resources about him out on the web including videos of him throwing on YouTube, just Google his name. He even has a Facebook page!

In answer to your question "I wonder if it's a glaze experiment as I've never seen anything like it by Hamada elsewhere?"

When potters go on tour of other countries that include demonstrating they will have to rely on the clay, glazes and firing facilities there rather than what they are used to. Therefore it isn't really surprising that the work might differ from their norm.

Would that not make you wonder a little bit about the authenticity , I'm not saying for a moment theyr'e not his ( I am no expert on anything and not a fan of his work), but you would have thought that his stuff would create quite an interest in auctions

It did indeed, but I trusted Mr Hawtin's attribution. They also aren't typical so I think that made a difference too

Fair point , I personally find it difficult to trust some experts these days , Yonks ago I thought everything they said was gospel , but as the years went by Iv'e found a lot of them are chancers who say anything without any proof whatsoever , then write books n' stuff creating a long line of misattributed debris along the way .

I know Alastair Hawtin, as he used to come to a number of exhibitions that I staged and bought items from me, and I was at Wellers for the sale on 27th October.

I did buy from the sale but the difference between what I was doing and what Skip was doing is that I was buying to re-sell and Skip was buying primarily things she was planning to keep.

the reason for buying might be different but that doesn't alter the provenance of which there really isn't any in this case , but I accept that Karen likes the pieces she bought and that is her choice , doesn't matter to me if it's christies , bonhams or honest joe up the road that's flogging stuff if proof isn't available on questionable pieces then attributed to ,or in the manner of should apply .

I and my wife had a long look over Wellers Hawtin sale. Yet we did not bid-or even want to-on anything. Just struck us that Alistair Hawtin was having a very big spring clean of his collection. Paring it down greatly. But there just did not seem hardly anything there that we could get really excited about. Prices bid at the sale seem to reflect that.
As to Shoji Hamada? Personally, I have always shied away from any of his 'work' at auction. You just have literally no way of knowing,unless you have cast-iron provenance. In consequence,that is reflected in the onsale value of items might buy.

Now here's one I sold earlier - 13 inches/33 cm high faceted vase with fitted wooden box (lid of the box shown).

Below is the foot ring of a Shoji Hamada bottle made at Washington University Seattle in 1963 during a demonstration tour of the States:



The stoneware body is local so the colour isn't typical of his work.

Thanks for the pics Sp , especially good to see a base shot which are few and far between .

Not sure (maybe it is just one of those things that we don't understand).

I did try and find out but can't say that I was that successful. Hamada talked about keeping the glaze rough or not very thick near the base (mostly on teabowls) so it could be what you say with the addition that the glaze where this does not happen is a thicker coating.

P.S. Good to have you back.

Thanks SP. as I said elsewhere, I've been doing cold turkey with my pot buying. Think I'm safe to come back now