Featured Need Help w/Identifying Primitive 3-Legged Pottery Vessel

hi everyone. i found this a couple of weeks ago. it's been slow in my neck of the woods lately and i realize i might be reaching, but i thought it was an interesting piece. the finish is beautifully varied and rich. it appears to be burned. there are absolutely no marks to be found. the form, with the 3-legs is unusual, possibly chinese. it does bear a resemblance to Shigaraki pottery from Japan, but i've looked at many examples and haven't found any with this 3-legged design. it stands 7 3/4 inches in height. any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated...thanks

 

That is very attractive!
I'm no help with ID, but have a feeling that you'll be surprised by its origin when it's finally identified!

 

Yeah-- nice piece!

 

Anyone else thinking raku?

 

Doesn't look like it to me, but I'm usually wrong...

 

While it's true that Southwest puebloan tribes are not known for making pottery with 3 legs, it is fairly common among the Cherokee and Catawba potters of South Carolina, Mexican potters, and those of Japan, China, and several countries in Central and South America, as well as Africa.

This appears to be an unglazed, pit-fired pot, but it would help determine where it was made by being able to tell if it was thrown on a potter's wheel. since traditional Native American potters hand-built their pottery, and never used a potter's wheel.

It isn't raku ware, since that means that the clay body is turned all black. The black areas are a result of firing outdoors, where the flame reaches part of the pots, resulting in the black areas.

But raku ("American" post-firing reduction, not the Japanese Raku) occurs when the pot is fired in a manner that causes oxygen to not reach the pot at all, so the entire pot (except where glazed), turns black.

 

Thanks for the great explanation, Taupou. It is "American" raku that I was thinking of.

 

thank you for this information. someone locally that i showed this to thought it was South American. i don't know how to determine for certain if this piece was thrown on a wheel or hand-built. the walls do seem fairly uniform, but i don't see any concentric rings either inside or out. and when i feel the walls carefully i do feel some slight variations in the thickness here and there. so my best guess would probably be it's hand-built.