Here are 4 views of my current favorite tea cup. I bought it about 5 months ago from Maruta Munehiko. It’s been fired in his anagama, probably at +-1200C, and has a white slip over a dark clay, covered overall in a thin coat of clear, which shows some fairly small crackle.

Originally this cup was a fairly uniform white with iron spotting and pinholing. Shades of the darker clay could be seen through the slip, but browns and yellows were not present. Below are some pictures of the cup as it is now. On the interior, one can see the ‘amamori’ effect (see previous post) to a great degree. Also, the crackle is greatly accentuated, it was not really visible to the naked eye before I started using the cup.

On the interior and exterior, various shades of browns and yellows, which were not present before, have started to suffuse the surface.

I really have started enjoying this cup much more, the more I use it. I’m really looking forword to what it will look like in the future.