Japanese Ceramic Precious Metal Repair

This traditional japanese art uses a precious metal liquid gold liquid silver or lacquer dusted with powdered gold to bring together the pieces of a broken pottery item and at the same time enhance the breaks.

Japanese ceramic precious metal repair.

The origins of kintsugi are uncertain but it s likely that the practice became commonplace in japan during the late 16th or early 17th centuries noted louise cort curator of ceramics at the smithsonian s freer gallery of art and arthur m. Kintsugi 金継ぎ golden joinery also known as kintsukuroi 金繕い golden repair is the japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold silver or platinum a method similar to the maki e technique. Kintsugi or kintsukori dates back to the 15th century when according to legend shogun ashikaga yoshimasa broke his favorite chawan a chinese ceramic tea bowl and sent it back to china for repair it was returned and fixed but bound by ugly metal staples. The history of kintsugi.

Poetically translated to golden joinery kintsugi or kintsukuroi is the centuries old japanese art of fixing broken pottery rather than rejoin ceramic pieces with a camouflaged adhesive the kintsugi technique employs a special tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold silver or platinum. Trust the japanese to. This inspired him to find an elegant way to amend the ceramic and as a result kintsugi was born. Its beginnings are often associated with the famed tale of a 15th century japanese military ruler whose antique.

As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something. Japanese kintsukuroi chawan. It s called kintsugi 金継ぎ or kintsukuroi 金繕い literally golden kin and repair tsugi. While the goal of traditional western style ceramic repair is to make the piece look like it was never damaged there s a four hundred year old japanese tradition that may have saved your.

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