Shino ware

▪ Japanese ceramic ware

      glazed Japanese ceramic ware produced in Mino Province (in modern Gifu Prefecture), and perhaps the most typical variety of pottery produced during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1574–1600). The name shino may possibly be derived from the name of Shino Soshun, a tea and incense master who flourished in the Daiei era (1521–27) of the late Muromachi period. It is also possible that Shino is simply a corruption of shiro, which means “white” in Japanese.

      Shino ware is generally covered with a rich, white feldspar glaze, sometimes with a faint hint of rose beneath. Under the white glaze some wares have plant and other naturalistic motifs drawn in iron glazes. Shino pottery was made at Okaya, Onada, Gotomachi, and Kujiri in the northwestern part of Toki, as well as at a number of other kilns throughout southern Japan. Each of these kilns had its own distinguishing stylistic characteristics, but their wares are all made from a fine, white potting clay, covered with thick feldspar glazes. Besides white Shino, there are red Shino, rose Shino, neriagede (which combines different colours), and gray Shino. The warm gray hue of the latter type was produced by covering the ware with an iron slip before scratching in its designs and by then covering the piece with a feldspar glaze and firing it in reducing flames.

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