Japanese celadon vase ice crackle glaze on wooden stand, by Tachikichi Kyoto Showa

Japanese celadon vase ice crackle glaze Tachikichi Kyoto Showa

Celadon vase with ice crackle glaze by Tachikichi, Kyoto, Shōwa period

Name: Japanese celadon vase ice crackle glaze Tachikichi Kyoto Showa | KAIKO&CO
Brand: KAIKO&CO
Price: 115.0 EUR
Availability: InStock

€115.00

The glaze is what stops you. A pale blue-green celadon broken across the entire surface by an ice crackle pattern, large irregular segments divided by dark lines that shift from grey to brown depending on where the light falls. From one angle the turquoise comes forward. From another, the piece reads almost stone. It does not look the same twice.

The form underneath is an organic egg, slightly flattened on the sides, and the indentations there catch the light further still. At 17 centimetres it is a quiet presence: not a statement piece, but the kind of object that earns its place slowly.

Tachikichi has been operating in Kyoto since 1752, founded originally as Tachibana-ya Kichibee in the Shijō Tominokōji district. They design pieces to their own specifications and have them produced at selected kilns across Japan, each one made specifically to carry their name.

Their name on the base of a piece is a signal about standard and curation, the result of nearly three centuries of working only with what meets their criteria.

What makes this vase special

The up close look and feel

The crackle here is unusually large: not the fine network you see on tea glazes, but wide irregular segments that sit close to geometric. Each one is slightly convex, the glaze pulled back from the crack lines and pooling toward the centre of each tile.

Where the lines run deep they show dark, almost brown. Where they are shallower the ground colour shows through. The surface is smooth under the fingers despite the visual texture. The body below the glaze is close and dense, and the piece sits heavier than its size suggests.

Charming details

The celadon colour has a name in Japanese: seiji, blue porcelain. It is one of the oldest glaze traditions in East Asia, originating in China during the Song dynasty.

The colour comes from iron oxide in the glaze, turned blue-green by firing in a reduction kiln, an atmosphere with limited oxygen. Too much iron and it goes brown. Too little and it disappears.

The pale turquoise on this piece sits in a narrow band between both. That is not decoration. That is chemistry held at exactly the right point.

- Celadon glaze with kan'nyū (ice crackle) technique.
- Made for Tachikichi (たち吉).
- Founded 1752 in Kyoto as Tachibana-ya Kichibee, near the intersection of Shijō and Tominokōji streets. Still active today.
- Tachikichi mark impressed on the base.
- Commissioned by Tachikichi, Kyoto.
- Shōwa period, ca. 1970s to 1980s.
- Height: ca. 17 cm
- Width at widest point: ca. 12 cm
- Weight: ca. 812 gr
- Excellent vintage condition.
- Appears unused.
- No chips, cracks or repairs.
- This vase holds water. The body is well-fired and the crackle is surface movement in the glaze only, not structural.
- If you use it for fresh flowers, water and any dissolved minerals will settle into the crack lines over time, deepening and darkening them.
- Whether that is a reason to avoid it or not depends on how you feel about the piece changing.
- Kept dry and used for display or dried flowers, the glaze stays as it is now.
- Away from direct sunlight, which fades celadon slowly.
- Clean with a soft dry cloth.