The Forgotten One: Furnace Transmutation
THE AUTUMN WIND BLOWS AWAY THE LEAVES, REVEALING THE ORIGINAL APPEARANCE OF THE TREE.1
Why does a teacup with furnace mutations and deformations become a fetish in the eyes of tea experts and ceramists? Why do we perceive beauty in a defect? Is it because of the defect’s uniqueness or unduplicated quality? Does the defect perhaps represent a natural transmutation combined with human handicraft? Accidental results create an ideal aesthetic that could only be created and achieved in a wood-fired kiln, with marvellous and unexpected changes that have charmed ceramists throughout history.
If we trace how this unique aesthetic ideology took shape in the East over the course of its long history, we may be able to stumble upon the truth. One can convey this idea convincingly using a metaphor in poetry, especially when expressed in Chinese characters. As master poet Shansou Huiyun (Japanese Buddhist monk 1231-1301) writes:
No more haggling,
