Japanese Plate from Saga: The Edge

Two plates can share a clay, a glaze, a pattern and a wall height, and still behave differently at the table. What separates them is the outline. On a japanese plate from Saga the edge is rarely a plain circle, and the shape it takes is a decision about how food will look on it.

A wavy rim keeps the eye moving

The plate above has a wall of 2.5cm and a rim that rises and falls in a continuous wave, finished in gray clay with a gold-coloured flower pattern glazed over it. A wave has no corners, so nothing stops the eye. It travels around the plate and comes back to the middle.

That suits food arranged in one mass — something round, something piled, something poured. The rim becomes a frame that closes around the portion instead of pointing at parts of it.

An octagonal edge divides the plate for you

Now take the same clay, the same gray, the same gold flower, and cut the rim into flat facets. The plate below is 2.6cm at the wall and octagonal, and the change is larger than a photograph suggests.

Corners create sections. Set three small items down and each one lands in its own facet, so the plate reads as composed even though you did nothing but put things on it. A wave cannot do that. If you serve several small things at once, the octagon is the more useful of the two by a wide margin.

There is a second, quieter difference. A faceted rim gives your thumb a flat place to sit when you lift the plate. On a wave your grip slides until it finds a low point.

A petal edge borrows the shape of the flower

The third outline goes further and makes the plate itself into the motif. The plate below is 2cm at the wall, green and white, with the rim cut into chrysanthemum petals.

A petal edge is the most decorative of the three and the most demanding of what you put on it. Because the outline is already busy, plain food looks best: something white, something single, something with a straight edge of its own to contrast against the curves.

Two bodies, one region

Saga sends both porcelain and ceramic, and the edge is where you can tell them apart without turning the plate over. A porcelain edge can be taken thin and cut precisely, so petals and facets stay sharp. A ceramic edge is rounder and softer at the same thickness. Neither is better; the porcelain outline is crisper, the ceramic outline is warmer.

Choosing an outline

Decide by what you serve most, not by which plate photographs best.

• One thing, arranged in the middle — take the wave.
• Several small things at once — take the octagon.
• Something plain that needs an occasion — take the petal edge.

If you want one outline that does all three passably, a wide flat rim is the compromise: it frames without dividing, and it leaves the middle unclaimed.

Where to start

To see a wide rim doing that framing job, an eight-sun rim plate is the clearest example. For a first small piece, a round small plate with an underglazed arabesque keeps the outline plain and puts the interest inside. The Arita ware collection shows the range of edges together.