Ko-Imari Sometsuke, Centuries in Blue
Ko-Imari porcelain emerged during Japan's golden age of export ceramics. This rounded, robust bowl bears hand-painted botanical motifs in cobalt blue sometsuke on glossy white porcelain, with geometric bands encircling the rim in a tradition refined across generations of Imari artisans.
Restoring Around Centuries-Old Sometsuke
Reassembling a Ko-Imari bowl means working around painted surfaces that have survived since the Edo period — cobalt blue brushwork fired beneath the glaze, each stroke part of the original composition. Rio Hashimoto, whose graduate research at Kyoto City University of Arts (est. 1880) spanned the complete urushi discipline, joined these fragments over four months with natural urushi lacquer and 24K gold, finished through roiro, the highest level of urushi polishing technique. An exhibiting artist recognized in national juried competitions, she allowed the sometsuke painting to remain the dominant visual element — gold following the fracture lines without overtaking the cobalt blue.
Where Two Painters Meet Across Time
Ko-Imari porcelain once traveled from the kilns of Arita to European courts, shaping Western visions of Japanese craft. In this bowl, gold seams now intersect the original painter's botanical brushwork, creating a dialogue between two artists separated by centuries that neither could have planned. The urushi lacquer bonding these fragments will continue to harden over decades, outlasting the gold that adorns it.
