Vase
Tanaka Terukazu (b. 1945)
Japan, Tokyo, 1985
Copper, silver, copper alloys (shibuichi, kuromido), silver and gold gilding
Bands of silver and gold interrupt broad areas of moody gray shibuichi (copper with 25 percent silver) and brown-black kuromido (copper alloy distinguished by a small amount of arsenic). Tanaka soldered together sheets of different alloys, then hammered them to create the rounded vessel shape. Thin sheets of silver were then hammered into a cross-hatched ground or melted in place.