Most andon plates feature the design known as “tetsu-e” (“iron pictures”), the freestyle images painted in iron-oxide pigments directly onto the clay, frequently of sparse landscapes or subjects from nature. Artisans drew underlaze pictures directly on the clay with iron pigments made from an iron oxide. Then they poured transparent glaze over the pictures. This plate is an example of Oribe glaze all over the tetsu-e instead of Oribe glazing only on part of the plate, such as a shoulder.

Produced mainly at the Seto kilns in Aichi Prefecture, oil dishes were special circular flat plates with a unique raised perpendicular outer edge. They were placed on the lower level of the andon lantern where they were used to catch oil drippings and soot from the burnt wick or oil feeder above. These plates were in use from the mid-seventeenth century, when andon were first used indoors, until the early 1900’s, when the use of oil lamps and electric lights became widespread.

The fascination of aburazara for the collectors of Japanese folk art lies in their bold painted motifs. Their simple designs always possessed a spontaneous vitality, and the decoration on this plate is large in scale and freely executed. Considered a quintessential example of Japanese ceramic folk art, Seto oil plates are represented in most major collections of mingei or Japanese folk ceramics. See “Andon (Lantern) Plates” by Yamazaki Masumi, the cover article in DARUMA 42 for many wonderful examples of these early oil plates, including Figures 21 and 22, which are similar in style to this one.

CONDITION is quite good for such an early andon plate. There are the fairly typical and expected areas of glaze loss on the rim of the plate and a stable old hairline crack, which are totally consistent with age and extensive usage for a plate of this nature. Very few aburazara survive in perfect condition because they were seen as ordinary everyday utilitarian wares which would ultimately be discarded. Such rough spots actually give these old oil plates more character, enhancing their folk art essence.

DIMENSIONS: 9” (23 cm) diameter, 1” (2.5 cm) high.