Baskets

Among the craft things we collected are several baskets.  These two are Japanese baskets used for small flower arrangements.  Both are lovely examples of Japanese basket weaving techniques and with a small water container inside look beautiful with just a few flowers.

Shards

These two images are of a Chinese bowl shard.  Obviously there were a number of bowls stacked for the firing hence the ring where the foot of the next bowl has been placed.  The clay body and the cobalt decoration are interesting - I love the softness of the blue painting. 

Two Tall Bottles

These two anagama fired bottles are in our permanent collection.  The top one is one of mine and the lower one is one of Estelle's.  Tall bottles like these are usually made in two or possibly three sections and the trick is to allow for drying shrinkage so the when the sections are assembled then there is no indication of where the joins were made.

Two English Potters

Two of the English potters in our collection.  Alan Caiger Smith stayed with us in New Zealand in 1975 and gave us this blue decorated coffee mug.  The decorated dish is by Kenneth Clark and his wife Anne Wyn Reeves.  Kenneth is a New Zealander who works in London and we were lucky enough to have him visit us in 1970 when our house was being built.  We asked him to decorate some tiles for our bathrooms which have given us much enjoyment.

Snuff Bottles

The Chinese snuff bottle depicting two fish was a gift from friends in Japan.  I think it is quite old.  The taller snuff bottle is much more modern and was made in New Zealand by Chester Nealie who now lives in Australia

New Zealand Potters

Rick Rudd made this very unusual box which is an elegant and useful container.  The bowl is by Chloe King and is in use most days of the week to hold fruit or yoghurt..

Two Old Japanese Ceramics

These two pieces were given to us when we first visited Japan in 1978.  The round dish is Ko-Kutani (Old Kutani) and is about 200 years old. The signature underneath is said to be that of Kakiemon.  The oblong dish is an early Imari and, like the Kutani dish, is hand painted with a cobalt decoration.