Friday 7 March 2008

a delicate piece of kata-kiri bori by Natsuo

This is a small shibuichi pill box with an iron inset top. The design is cut using the kata-kiri technique and has a few tiny touches of gold inlaid. It is about 4 cm across and 15mm high. Signed "Natsuo" with gold inlaid seal.

2 comments:

Doug Sanders said...

Ford, is that a copy you've done? The coloration is interesting- it looks like more of a translucent stain than an opaque patina, or has it been polished down? Please inform the ignorant.

-Doug

Ford Hallam said...

Hi Doug,

no, this is the real thing. The colour is in reality quite opaque. The effect you may be seeing is probably due to the angle of the lighting and the wax which would add a slight refractive layer.

In fact the patina on this piece is extremely good...I'll see if I can't get a better image which will show that.

There is a world of variation in iron patination but a coarse, granular rust is sadly the most commonly seen. The ideal is an opaque colour with no actual rust created texture to obscure the carving or fine detail.