Oigen for Joyce Chen, Year of the Ram zodiac tetsu kyusu

This Year of the Ram tetsu kyusu was made by Oigen for Joyce Chen. It is 7" in diameter, minus the spout, and 2" high, minus the lid and handle. It weighs 3 lbs 5 ounces and is marked "JOYCE CHEN" under the spout. The mold work is very detailed, but I could not do it justice using artificial light and my phone camera. The detail is so fine that the rings in the ram's horn's are visible.

I have learned, I think, about all that I can by handling examples of Japanese tetsu kyusu, and have identified the marks of many of the larger foundries which are now active. That means that I have wound down my collecting of Japanese tetsu kyusu. I think that I have mentioned before that I do not particularly care for the zodiac pots made by Oigen for Joyce Chen, but this is one of the two or three that I wanted to have an example of and will likely keep for my collection.

I have purchased only one other tetsu kyusu in the past several weeks, and only because it came with a trivet that I wanted and the set was only $9. I will post that one, by and by. My intention is to start donating the majority of my pots to a local thrift shop, keeping only the best examples and unidentified pots.