Need ID on Iridescent Art Pottery Vase...

Picked this up for a buck at an estate sale because the impressed marks on the bottom looked kind of interesting. But of course, when I got it home I couldn't ID it. Is this just Mid Century Studio Pottery, Raku pottery, or is this from a recognizable maker?

 

Raku studio pottery, probably going to be next to impossible to identify the potter.

 

Thanks Taupou! You know, I have a hard time figuring out what Raku is exactly. Is it just black pottery with iridescence? What makes something "Raku"?

 

Raku (more correctly called post-firing reduction, or American raku, but few people other than potters recognize what that is)is a firing technique, usually credited to American potter Paul Soldner.

Raku is also a Japanese traditional type of pottery, which looks nothing like American raku, but it was Soldner's attempt to make Japanese raku pottery, and his subsequent variations in technique, that led to his development of American raku in 1960, or what most people (except in Japan) now just call raku.

Basically, American raku, or post-firing reduction, involves taking glazed pottery directly from a red-hot kiln, and sealing it in a container of combustible material, like shredded paper, dried leaves, hay...or any number of variations that potters have tried. When the oxygen in the container is used up (reduced) by the fire, a chemical reaction occurs and molecular oxygen from the glazes and clay body is then utilized. As a result, glazes change, often creating a metallic, irridescent, or luster effect, and the unglazed clay body turns black.

Here are a couple web pages by Paul Soldner himself, talking about raku: http://www.paulsoldner.com/essays/raku_process.html
http://www.paulsoldner.com/essays/American_Raku.html

Endless variations in specific techniques have been developed by potters all over the world, since the first pots were made by Soldner and his followers, but this is the essence of what it is.

 

I forgot to mention that Soldner discusses the difference between Japanese traditional raku and American raku in that second link above.

 

OMG Taupou. You are awesome. That was the best description for this type of pottery that I've ever heard, and it made perfect sense. Thanks so much! I'd always heard the term Raku but was never quite sure what it really meant. I truly appreciate your clearing that up for me.