Japanese Art Of Reparing Ceramics With Gold

Kintsugi the japanese art of fixing broken pottery with gold kaushik patowary may 28 2014 2 comments most people would like damages to their broken items to be concealed and hidden by repair making the object look like new.

Japanese art of reparing ceramics with gold.

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. It s called kintsugi 金継ぎ or kintsukuroi 金繕い literally golden kin and repair tsugi. 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. The name of the technique is derived from the words kin golden and tsugi joinery which translate to mean golden repair.

As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something. 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. Sackler gallery in washington d c. 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.

But the japanese art of kintsugi follows a different philosophy. 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. In the 500 year old art of kintsugi which translates more or less as joining with gold broken pottery is repaired with a seam of lacquer and precious metal. Japanese kintsukuroi chawan.

Its beginnings are often associated with the famed tale of a 15th century japanese military ruler whose antique. Rather than disguising the breakage kintsugi restores. 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.