The subtle elegance of openwork Satsuma

Sukashibori (透彫) is a decoration method in which a design is carved from a smooth surface of various materials, including pottery, stone, glass and leather. In Japan, the term is usually associated with metalwork, but the technique also appears on Satsuma pottery. It is a style of decoration in which the wall of a vase, cup or other vessel is perforated with honeycombs or other motifs. Sometimes there is an inner wall that is closed and then forms the actual vase. With koros, the inner wall can also be pierced, which produces a beautiful moiré effect. Unlike many Kyoto Satsuma, where the painting seems more important than the shape, with riculated Satsuma the emphasis is entirely on the beauty of the carving. In order not to distract attention from the carving, many openwork Satsuma products are usually glazed blank with at most a single, sparse painting. Nevertheless, there are also Satsuma makers as Kinkozan and Ryozan, who were able to achieve the highest possible quality precisely in the combination of openwork and exquisite painting.

Sukashibori is a difficult technique that produces beautiful results, and openwork Satsuma is therefore highly desirable for any collector. Reticulated decoration originated in China and it is believed that the earliest reticulated pottery was made in the official kilns of the Southern Song Dynasty (13th century) in eastern China. The technique required an enormous amount of skill and was therefore also referred to as "devil's work" (恶魔的工作). In Japan, the technique was already used in regions such as Arita, where many Chinese designs were copied, and in Europe, especially England, beautiful openwork porcelain was produced in the mid-19th century.