(Ash Tray) c. late 20th century

This ashtray was made by Kawai Tōru, who was born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1941. It’s made of stoneware, a dense and non-porous type of ceramic fired at high temperature. The form is deceptively simple: a small, squat container with a circular depression at the top, and a notched rest at the side for a cigarette. But the way this form is glazed gives it a distinct sense of materiality. The pooling of the glaze around the rim, and its speckled texture, draws attention to the inherent qualities of the material. It also reminds us of the labor involved in its making. The potter must have carefully considered the behavior of the glaze in the kiln, allowing it to run and settle in unpredictable ways. This kind of attention to process challenges the idea that an ashtray is just a mundane, functional object. Instead, it becomes a meditation on the elemental forces of fire and earth, and the skill needed to control them.