Introductury remarks on Satsuma pottery

Some introductory remarks on Satsuma pottery

The attraction of Satsuma earthenware is partly in the sometimes breathtaking refinement of the paintwork. Besides of the quality of the brushwork there is also a lot to see what is on it, and much of the charm of Satsuma yaki can be traced back to the exotic attraction that it exerts on Western eyes. Not coincidentally of course because Satsuma pottery from the Meiji era was to a large extent intended to charm the west. Originally, these products were scarcely decorated , because for the Japanese people the beauty of Satsuma eartheware was in the beautiful body of the earthenware itself. The ivory coloured of the clay, deepened by the fine-grained crackle of the glaze did not need more as just a sparing decoration what was in perfect balance with the ivory-white of the body.
From the beginning of the Meiji period, we see a proliferation of these types of paintings that sometimes completely cover the body itself, and in a style much different from the period before. It is this wealth of depictions that explains much of Satsuma's appeal, and the beautiful way in which exotic, arcadian and archaic Japan was depicted is still a source of delight for many collectors around the world. Although Satsuma pottery is still being produced, this website, like most collectors, focuses primarily on the Meiji and Taishi periods, roughly from 1860 to 1930.

Original Satsuma was produced in the Satsuma domain, the name of both a municipality and a former province of Japan, located in the current Kagoshima prefecture. Satsuma is therefore a geographical indication, which became the sortname for a type of pottery that is called Satsuma yaki. This kind of pottery was made from a type of clay that can be found in Satsuma. H owever, Satsuma yaki was and is not only produced in Satsuma.
Most Satsuma pottery found in the west is of mediocre or poor quality. These are export products that were being massively exported from Japan in the first half of the last century. Colorful saucers, table lamps and complete dinnerware, often with gold and thickly applied glaze, the so-called morriage, and decorations on which gods and dragons, geishas and samurai are prominently depicted: on the internet they are offered by hundreds, mostly coming from the household estates of parents or grandparents, and purchased in the 1930s or later. It is a form of Satsuma that was produced in Japan at that time and exported to the west by hundreds of thousands. The heydays of the real Satsuma was already over by then, the period in which time played no role and craftsmanship was given a continuation in which only in the cheapest possible way, therefore quickly and in large numbers, was proclaimed to meet the enormous demand from the West.

Although many pieces are provided with a maker's name, be aware that this is always secundary to quality. The name can relate to an individual maker, but also to the producing firm, pottery or trader. In a number of cases also as a homage to a valued master painter and again in a number of cases a conscious counterfeit. Satsuma was one of Japan's most successful export products in the Meiji era and subsequent years. In Japan itself people were hardly interested in this. The lavishly decorated Satsuma products, entirely focused on Western taste, did not fit in with the aesthetic standards used in Japan.

,

decoration department at the Yasuda studio

Satsuma pottery was produced in large numbers by mostly anonymous makers, a number of these potteries / makers are known for the high quality of their products. Other potteries mainly produced mass goods aimed at tourists. A lot of high-quality work was not signed. This applies in particular to the early work from 1854 and the period referred to as Meiji (1868-1916), under the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito. Because the foreigners, in particular, wanted to see a brand or maker's name, this was increasingly applied from the years that Japan opened itself up to foreigners. Following an exhibition in Paris in 1867 in which Satsumawerk presented work, there is an explosive demand for Japanese pottery. In order to meet the high demand, the quality standards were systematically lowered to a point where one can only speak of mass production, but with signature. Sometimes the name of great masters was used deliberately, sometimes only the name of the pottery, or simply the addition that the product concerned Satsuma work. Quality is therefore the most important indicator in the assessment of Satsuma works, not the makers name.

Satsuma is earthenware, not porcelain. The difference between earthenware and porcelain is the porosity of the clay. This is clearly visible at the bottom or back, the unglazed part. Porcelain is white, hard and smooth in structure. Satsuma clay has a somewhat creamy, ivory color and feels rougher. Satsuma clay is originally ferrous, and would turn dark after baking. Systematic dilution removes the iron from the clay, leaving clay that turns out to be nicely ivory after baking (Satsuma-white, there is also Satuma-black, clay that turns very dark, almost black after baking).
Satsuma has a very fine-grained crackle on the whole piece. This is a deliberately applied effect: the thinly applied glaze cracks as soon as the piece is removed from the oven, this deepens the colors. Satsuma is sometimes also treated with sludge before glazing, this is called moriage.

The colors are applied after the glaze (top glaze or over glaze), this also applies to the gold-plated parts, which are applied both before and after the colors. From 1900, the gold appears to be applied much thinner, almost flat. Among other things because the liquid gilding, initially invented by Meissen, is used more often. Satsuma work with this refined painting is therefore usually from after 1900.

Workmen at Kinkozan factory, ca. 1910

The production process step by step:

The form is modeled in the clay.
The modeled form is dried.
The object is baked at around 700-800 degrees.
The object is glazed blank.
The object is baked again at 1200 degrees.
The object is removed from the oven with the glaze shrinking and crackling. characteristic of Satsuma pottery.
The design is applied in black.
The object is baked again.
The colors are applied.
It is baked again at around 1000 degrees.
The gold is applied.
The object is baked at 600 degrees to harden the gold.
The object is polished with a special brush to make the gold shiny.

In the past Satsuma also has porcelain that uses pottery stone as the main raw material, but this it is not produced anymore.