lUKAV28 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:34 am
which one are most desired I-IV?
desirable
from which perspective?
in terms of general recognition/fame/visibility:
jozan iii > sou > jozan iv > jozan ii > jozan i
objectively, jozan iii is the most well known and most universally appreciated as he's a
Living National Treasure. his fame has done a lot for the overall recognition of the jozan kiln. after that, i would say that yamada sou is the most visible because he is a contemporary artist. he's cranking out lots of pieces right now, and his work can be found in many galleries. the others are, in my opinion, less well known to the general public. jozan iv is next, with jozan ii and jozan i far behind.
in terms of market scarcity?
jozan i > jozan ii > jozan iv > jozan iii > sou
jozan i is the most scarce. you can find jozan i works for sale sometimes, but frequently they're accidentally sold as jozan ii (and vice versa). it can be hard to tell them apart, especially if the tomobako is missing.
after that is jozan ii. these (and jozan i) are older works and are imho mostly purchased by tea nerds and yamada family fans who are already pretty familiar with jozan kiln.
next i would say is jozan iv. you can sometimes find his works for sale in galleries.
next is jozan iii. being the most famous, his works are very sought after by many types of collectors (even non tea drinkers probably).
yamada sou's works are the most available. he's young and active with works in many galleries.
in terms of being good teapots, their beauty, their functionality, and appreciation by tea nerds?
jozan iv > sou > jozan iii > jozan i > jozan ii
IMHO!!
jozan iv pots are a real treat to use.
true tea tools. possibly my favorite of the yamada family.
tasteful works, and the spout design is the best of any teapot i've used, period. great pour and
impossible to dribble down the side no matter what you do. remarkable.
yamada sou has very high technical skill and has inherited the spout design of his father (with slight stylistic changes that don't decrease functionality). sou's works are beautiful. look at his aoyu glaze for example. but i think i prefer the overall shapes of his father's teapots (but not by much), and also his father's pots are more collectible, so that's why i rank jozan iv above sou.
next is jozan iii. his works are beautiful, and his fame is well deserved. however, i prefer
using the pots of his son and grandson.
finally, jozan i and ii are tied. they are well made pots, but i feel they are more for collectors than for tea drinkers. the only reason i have some by jozan ii (and am still on the hunt for a nice jozan i specimen) is because i want to complete the jozan collection. i rarely use my jozan iis to brew tea. for me, they're pretty much objets d'art more than tea tools. i suppose jozan i is more collectible than jozan ii however.
overall?
if you put my silly ranking systems above in terms of points and combine them, the overall ranking becomes:
jozan iv (11 points) > jozan iii (10 points) > sou (9 points) > jozan i (8 points) > jozan ii (7 points)
lUKAV28 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:34 am
Just out of curiosity, can I ask what is the average price for jozan teapots today?
pricing art is hard and often inconsistently done
just one datapoint: if you
go to tokoname and look in galleries there...
sou: good pieces can go for a bit over 100usd. high end pieces for ~300usd or more (and highest price i've seen for a very nice piece was about 600usd at a western-facing online japanese gallery).
jozan4: cheapest i saw there was almost 500usd for something stamped (not hand signed). high end pieces (wood fired) were more in the ~1k range.
jozan3: ha ha, these are often in the thousands. in tokoname, cheapest i saw was close to 3k. high end pieces more than 5k.
i didn't see jozan 1 or 2 for sale in tokoname.
lUKAV28 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:34 am
I saw Takeyoshi from tokoname.jp is selling or at least had in stock a pot from Sou Yamada, so he is representing the 5th generation of potters?
like
@Bok said, no title yet since his father yamada emu (jozan iv) is still alive. but when he passes, sou will probably eventually call himself jozan v.