Garden of Dreams: Porcelain Stories by Yuki Hayama

Based on the view of the cosmos held by ancient people; a myriad of myths passed down in different regions. The "Goddess of the Moon" is another work of art inspired by such ancient myths. It was crafted by combining the Chinese legend of Chang'e Benyue and Artemis from Greek mythology in an endeavor to express the hidden beauty in these myths. The "Goddess of the Moon" is the result of adding modern inspiration to the rich ancient world of imagination.

Since ancient times, flowers have symbolized life. This incense burner with a motif of'Ten Thousand Flowers' depicts lotuses that rise from the mud, but which cannot be tainted by it. A lotus seed buried in the mud in the Jomon period (more than 2,000 years ago) has awoken in modern Japan to produce an incense burner embellished with highly fragrant flowers. Seasonal Japanese flowers are drawn on this incense burner, along with Jomon lotuses, to celebrate life-as beautiful and as strong as it is.

The Indus Valley Civilization that sprang up in the northwestern regions of South Asia, existed for almost 1,000 years until the disappearance of the surrounding forests caused its collapse. The heritage of this civilization was carried overseas in the form of the motifs that were used for dyeing chintz fabric, and these flourished when they reached Java. 
The Shinrabansho motif depicts the fecundity of life in the ancient forests, and has been recreated here in this blue and gold design - a celebration of the origins of life.

Chinese nobles and literati, who were driven from their homes when the Mongols swept across the Eurasian continent, traveled down the Yangtze River in search of a safe haven, eventually settling in the mild climate of Jiangnan, where they developed new forms of beauty and art. This design of fish and seaweed is a motif that was first developed by the court painters of the Southern Song dynasty; fish represent wealth and seaweed symbolizes a safe home. Applying the motif using zaffer, Hayama elegantly recreates this one-thousand-year-old prayer for peace in the modern age.

I created this panel inspired by the nature of Scandinavia where I lived from 2007 to 2008. I still remember the affluent nature and light produced as a result of the workings of the northern paradise. I initially painted the picture of "Komorebi" as the final scene of "Flying Wood Louse," a fairy tale I wrote in Scandinavia. This is one of my most memorable works where I challenged myself using a new blurred painting technique to depict metempsychosis and a new world after rebirth using the motifs of swans on a lake and Komorebi, or sunlight filtering through leaves. 

Plants and flowers that thrive during the four seasons show us the mystique, affluence, and generosity of nature. More than 70 species of plants and flowers were painted using gosu (cobalt), and firing was repeated eight times to recreate the plants' natural color tone. The beautiful coloring will remind you of nature's fragrant secrets.

Perfume bottles have a long history. The oldest manufacturer discovered dates back to around 1850 BC in Greece. Perfume bottles were originally used for religious and medical applications. I painted plants and flowers of the four seasons on this small, pretty perfume bottle. Although crearing this piece was difficult due to its smallness, I made full use of miniature painting techniques to draw more than 50 species of plants and flowers.

The drawing on the bottle is based on the patterns of Faberge Imperial Easter Eggs, combined with the Iznik floral arabesque-like pattern.

The blue color of the Mediterranean has been called "Iznik blue." The composition of the drawing is inspired by many works of fine art produced during the Romanov dynasty under the reign of Alexander III and Nicholas II. 

A scene from a movie called "Rikyu," starring Rentaro Mikuni, inspired me to create this perfume bottle. In this movie, during a conversation with Tokugawa Ieyasu, Rikyu places a small green glass bottle on the floor of a simple tearoom. I remember the astonishing beauty of the green bottle imported from abroad, sitting quietly inside a Japanese building featuring clay walls, tatami mats, and candlelight. I created this Western-style bottle with a wish to design something that would beautifully fit into the Japanese building that I saw in that movie. 

Since more than 1,000 years ago, Japanese people have cherished September 9 as the date of the Double Ninth Festival and the Chrysanthe­mum Festival. On this date with the two largest yang numbers, people pray for longevity, symbolized by chrysanthemum flowers. The straight chrysanthemum flower painted on this bottle using curved lines represents eternal life. In addition, the thin red lines drawn on the background are called miru, which signifies prosperity.

Perfume bottles have a long history. The oldest manufacturer discovered dates back to around 1850 BC in Greece. Perfume bottles were originally used for religious and medical applications. The composition of many animals and plants drawn on this bottle is based on the design of Java chintz. This perfume bottle aims to express the source of the universe by combining natural mystical patterns and scentful cultures. 

Perfume bottles have a long history. The oldest manufacturer discovered dates back to around 1850 BC in Greece. Perfume bottles were originally used for religious and medical applications. On this bottle, I painted the portraits of the young King Tutankhamun, who is perhaps the most well-known pharaoh of the ancient Egyptian civilization, and his wife Queen Ankhesenamun. People in ancient Egypt used perfume oil that is similar to today's perfume.

Perfume bottles have a long history. The oldest manufacturer discovered dates back to around 1850 BC in Greece. Perfume bottles were originally used for religious and medical applications. On this bottle, I painted the mysterious landscape of ancient Egypt using deep cobalt blue and gold paints. In addition to Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun, I also drew the portrait of Isis, the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, in the background.

Perfume bottles have a long history. The oldest manufacturer discovered dates back to around 1850 BC in Greece. Three thousand years ago, there was a dynasty called Zhou in China. People of Zhou very much enjoyed music, and arranged folk songs from all over the country into elegant court music. Rokumei was one such tune that was played at parties welcoming state guests. Sophisticated, dignified qinghua {blue flower) and gosai (five colors of blue, yellow, red, white and black) are used to express the imagination of an old poem appreciating the virtue of deer, which always call their friends when they find food.

The tradition of beautiful blue that started from the Cretan civilization on the northern Mediterranean coast was passed on from Greece to Turkey, and then to Russia and Scandinavia, producing an exceptionally beautiful set of patterns afrer being integrated with the wealth of the Russian imperial family in the early modern era. This ceramic box is a combination of the qinghua (blue flower) reminiscent of the deep, quiet forests of Scandinavia, and the golden patterns invented by a genius Russian court designer. Shima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian vividly depicts a famous scene where a box containing a map is presented to Qin Shi Huang. 

The mystery of nature lies even within the simple fact that flowers have scents, and small insects gather to collect floral nectar. I created this "Melody of Peace" inspired by the French saying "Un ange passe (An angel is passing)" to portray a world born from a single phrase, where peaceful and orderly natural mystique exists. I painted floral fairies that are said to live in the forests of Athens. In my imagination, the fairies are playing musical instruments in a field of flowers filled with energy and brilliance. 

I created this “Melody of Peace” to express a beauty that will leave you speechless. The composition of this work was born when I saw a beautiful piece of lace knitting in Brussels where I stayed in January 2020. I drew patterns reminiscent of the lace knitting using a slip of clay and glaze on the cobalt blue gosu paint. I also drew some pretty fairies inside the ceramic box.

An ancient civilization was born at the banks of river Nile around 5,000 years ago. Ancient Egypt was also a home to a wide variety of patterns, including the cobblestone pattern, ocean wave pattern, and cloisonné pattern. I used mysterious hieroglyphs and a Sphinx design to decorate this ceramic box, expressing the civilization’s eternal history.