Japanese Ceramics Repaired With Gold

The translation from japanese of kintsugi or kintsukuroi means golden joinery or repair with gold where the gold powder is applied on lacquer some refer to it as kintsugi art with a metaphor of kintsugi life re birth or wabi sabi philosophy this technique transforms broken ceramic or pottery into beautiful.

Japanese ceramics repaired with gold.

But the repair job which was done with metal staples being the standard for repair at that time detracted from the beauty of the bowl. It s called kintsugi 金継ぎ or kintsukuroi 金繕い literally golden kin and repair tsugi. As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something. This tradition known as kintsugi meaning golden seams or kintsukuroi golden repair is still going strong.

Kintsugi is said to have originated in the 15th century when a japanese shogun broke a favorite tea bowl and sent it back to china to be fixed. The name of the technique is derived from the words kin golden and tsugi joinery which translate to mean golden repair. Kintsugi is a centuries old japanese art of repairing broken pottery and transforming it into a new work of art with gold the traditional metal used in kintsugi. Japanese kintsukuroi chawan.

Kintsugi is the japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections you can create an even stronger more. By the 17th century kintsugi has become common practice in japan. Copy the japanese and fix it with gold nothing is ever truly broken that s the philosophy behind the ancient japanese art of kintsugi which repairs smashed pottery by using beautiful seams of gold. According to louise cort the curator of ceramics at the freer gallery of art and arthur m.

The meaning of kintsugi kintsukuroi gold repair art. This repair technique is called kintsugi which translates as golden joinery and uses a special lacquer mixed with gold silver or platinum to fix the object in a way that highlights rather. According to lakeside pottery. 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.

Some four or five centuries ago in japan a lavish technique emerged for repairing broken ceramics.