Catalog: Artists: Ceramics (960)

A beautiful example of the iconic Zogan inlayed clay work of Takeuchi Shingo enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The deep bowl swells in the midriff, closing at the rim to concentrate the aroma, with thin sides to allow the warmth to escape to the hands, a perfect bowl for winter tea. It is slightly elongated, 13 x 12 x 8.5 cm (5 x 4-3/4 x 3-1/2 inches) and is in excellent condition.
Takeuchi Shingo(b.1955) hails from Seto city, one of the oldest ceramic production centers in Japan. He studied at the Aichi Prefectural Ceramics Research Facility until 1979, then under the great Kato Shuntei II before establishing his own kiln in 1982. Exhibited at the Asahi Togeiten Ceramics Exhibition, Chunichi Kokusai International Ceramics Exhibition, Nihon Togeiten Ceramics Exhibition, and in innumerable galleries both at home and abroad. He is held in many private and public collections including the Seto Museum, The Korean International Ceramics Foundation, Yingge Ceramics Museum Taiwan and others.

Reminiscent of the Rolling Stones album cover, a wild sculpture by important contemporary sculptor Hayami Shiro. The bean shaped object is 15 cm (6 inches) diameter, 32 cm (12-1/2 inches) long and in excellent condition. It is signed on the base and appears to be dated 1999. Typical of this artist, it comes in a cardboard box
Hayami Shiro (b. 1927) was born in Kagawa Prefecture in 1927, and graduated the Tokushima Industrial University in 1949. His first exhibitions did not materialize until 1964, and from there he flourished. From the late 60s he began exhibiting in National Sculpture exhibitions, and has been often awarded; both domestic and international. He is best known for Tile works and stone sculpture. In 2000 he received the International Artistic Cultural Award (Kokusai Geijutsu Bunka Sho). A prominent work by this artist is on semi-permanent display in front of the Freer Gallery, adjacent to the Smithsonian Museum on loan from the Hirshhorn Collection. Other works are held by the Togei No Mori Museum of Shiga Prefecture, Tokyo City Hall and the Aichi Art Culture Center.

A bottle form of rough red clay blasted with a profusion of colors running in rivulets over the heavily tactile surface by Nakagawa Jinenbo enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Chossen Karatsu Tokkuri. It is 5 inches (12 cm) tall and in excellent condition.
Nakagawa Jinenbo (1953-2011) was always fascinated with Karatsu ware, and studied under the great Inoue Toya from the age of 24. Several years later he returned to his hometown to establish a climbing kiln of his own, which he put to great use. From there, not satisfied with his own skills, he went to Tanaka Sajiro for an additional apprenticeship. Afterwards, as many Chajin artists, he concentrated on private exhibitions as an outlet for his work, shunning the world of mass competition and retail. His life and career were cut short far too early, making his work both highly valued and hard to find.

An archetypal Iga vase by Iga Die-Hard Atarashi Kanji enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Iga Mimitsuki Hanaire. The overall organic lines are quintessential Iga and do not disappoint. The glazing is perfect, showing off both the beauty of bidoro and the rich terracotta clay. It is 24 cm (9-1/2 inches) tall 11 cm (4-1/4 inches) diameter and in perfect condition.
Atarashi Kanji was born in Osaka in 1944, and graduated the Osaka College of Craft design. After 3 years in Kobe, and 4 in Kishiwada (Wakayama) he came to settle in Iga, where he was one of the driving forces behind the resurrection and preservation of the Iga tradition. Although displayed at the National Craft Fair, he prefers the intimacy of the private exhibition, of which he holds several every year. And if ones visit to japan is not timed right for an exhibition, he can otherwise be found at his kiln working along with his son Manabu.

A dramatic Shino Mizusashi covered in flowing glaze by Sakai Kobu enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 20 cm tall, 19cm diameter and in excellent condition.
“I follow no teacher. I take no disciples. Independent, I don't get along well with public exhibitions”. Kobu Sakai from Toki City, one of Japan’s ceramic heartlands, has mastered Shino through self-study. He succeeded a kiln mass producing generic pottery, but decided he wanted to make his own works. “I walked around the nearby mountains and fields. Any piece of pottery that I encountered in an old kiln became my teacher. His works have been shown in solo exhibitions at department stores, and in 2002, he was designated as an intangible cultural property of Toki City. The 85 year old is well known for developing in the 1990s a blue Shino glaze using Cobalt and Iron Oxides known as Heki-Shino which shocked traditional ideas.

Large Leafed Vines are silhouetted against age darkened silver on this striking covered basin by Banura Shiro enclosed in the original signed wooden box. A segment of vine serves as a handle on the lid and it appears to float above the table on three ribbon feet. It is 25 cm (10 inches) diameter, 15 cm (6 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Banura Shiro (1941-2001) was born the fourth son of influential Lacquer Artist Banura Shogo. His sensitivity to textures may stem from that exacting influence. Although his older brother succeeded the family tradition (another branching into paper arts), Shiro, after graduating the Kyoto University of Fine Art, apprenticed in the plastic arts under Kawamura Kitaro (1899-1966) who was a student of Kitaoji Rosanjin. Rosanjin, a restaurateur, artist, and overall renaissance man believed the dish was there to support and bring out the beauty of food served. Shiro took this as his raison d’etre; his lifetime pursuit to create dishes which complimented the seasonality, texture, color and flavor. He had an impressive list of exhibitions, including a private exhibition at the Umeda Kindai Bijutsu-Ten as well as the Niponbashi Mitsukoshi, Takashimaya, and Ikebukuro Tobu, the equivalent of being displayed on New Yorks Fifth Avenue or other cities most Trendy streets, as well as many international exhibitions. Like most Iga-area artists, his output was low, but quality and originality high, making his work very much in demand.

A refined set of Tokkuri and Sake-cup by Banura Shiro enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled simply Shuki. Exquisite, the flask is more delicate than usual, with a long diaphanous spout and decidedly thin rim. This is made for a discerning drinker, entirely about quality not volume. The cup too is perfectly formed with a thin rim everted ever so slightly, a pleasure to drink from. This set is the perfect complement to a true kaiseki meal. The bottle is 12 cm (4-5/8 inches) tall, the cup 5.8 cm (2-1/4 inches) diameter and both are in perfect condition.
Banura Shiro (1941-2001) was born the fourth son of influential Lacquer Artist Banura Shogo. His sensitivity to textures may stem from that exacting influence. Although his older brother succeeded the family tradition (another branching into paper arts), Shiro, after graduating the Kyoto University of Fine Art, apprenticed in the plastic arts under Kawamura Kitaro (1899-1966) who was a student of Kitaoji Rosanjin. Rosanjin, a restaurateur, artist, and overall renaissance man believed the dish was there to support and bring out the beauty of food served. Shiro took this as his raison d’etre; his lifetime pursuit to create dishes which complimented the seasonality, texture, color and flavor. He had an impressive list of exhibitions, including a private exhibition at the Umeda Kindai Bijutsu-Ten as well as the Niponbashi Mitsukoshi, Takashimaya, and Ikebukuro Tobu, the equivalent of being displayed on New Yorks Fifth Avenue or other cities most Trendy streets, as well as many international exhibitions. Like most Iga-area artists, his output was low, but quality and originality high, making his work very much in demand.

A fabulous porcelain sake set by Minami Ayako from her legendary Yukifusuma (Blanket of Snow) series featuring a brilliant flower peering out from a drift of white, each enclosed in the original signed wooden box. Here both a sake cup and Kataguchi pouring vessel, the cup is 9 cm (3-1/2 inches) diameter. The Kataguchi is 15 x 11 x 9.5 cm (6 inches long) and both are in new condition.
Minami Ayako was born the daughter of Kutani artist Minami Shigmasa in Ishikawa prefecture, 1984. While working at the family kiln, she studied, graduating from the Kutani Prefectural Ceramic Research Facility in 2007. The following year her work was awarded at the Kyoto Kogei Crafts Biennale and was selected for exhibition at the Nihon Dento Kogeiten National Traditional Crafts Exhibition. Her work has since been exhibited there, as well as the Ishikawa Traditional Crafts Exhibition (awarded), Kanazawa Crafts Exhibition and Traditional Kutani Ware Crafts Exhibition (collected by the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art). She received honorable mention at the 73rd Issuikai Exhibition in 2011. Her series Yukifusuma (Blanket of snow) has achieved

A shell shaped swirling form by young female artist Takatsu Mio enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 6-1/2 inches (16.5cm)wide, roughly 7 inches (18cm) tall and in excellent condition.
Takatsu Mio (b. 1976) was raised in Gifu prefecture among the scattered kilns of Mino. She graduated the Osaka University of Arts Sculpture Department in 1999, moving on to advanced studies which she completed in 2001. Her first exhibited works were in 1999, and then again in Tokyo in 2001. The following year she exhibited with the 6th International Ceramics Exhibition in Mino with several private exhibitions over the following years in some of Japans top venues. In 2005 she made her overseas debut. In 2009 her work was featured in Women Ceramic Artists in the 21st Century (Paramita Museum/Mie Japan) 2011 saw her work accepted into the Faenza International Ceramics Exhibition in Italy, as well as the Nihon Togeiten National Ceramics Exhibition.

Silver glistens inside the near matt core of this fabulous chawan by JCS Gold Award winner Ito Keiji enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 12 cm (5 inches) diameter, 9.5 cm (just less than 4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Ito Keiji was born in 1935, and has spent his life challenging the accepted concepts of traditional ceramics. He was awarded at the 1981 Faenza International Ceramics Exhibition. He was awarded the Gifu Prefectural Cultural Award in 2006, and again the Award for Culture and Arts in 2013, culminating in the prestigious Japan Ceramics Society (JCS) Gold Award in 2017. Work by him is held in a plethora of important institutions throughout the globe. Tokyo and Kyoto National Museums of Modern Art, Gifu Prefectural Museum and Gifu Prefectural Museum of Contemporary Ceramics, Shiga Togeinomori Museum of Ceramic Art, Paramita Museum and Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum among others in Japan as well as the Everson Museum, Honolulu Museum, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and Faenza among others.

Three gilded thorns shatter the matte white surface of this large vase by Masatomo Toi, a striking combination of ideas. It is from his Dilemma series, the only piece in matte finish. It is 20 cm (8 inches) diameter and in excellent condition.
Masatomo Toi was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1992, and graduated the Design course at the Tajimi Ceramics Research Facility in 2019. Since he has been developing his series of “Thorny” vessels and objects. At the same time he has been studying the way of tea and other traditional arts such as flower arrangement, and his use of negative space is masterful. His works have been featured in a number of group and juried exhibitions. He will soon depart Japan for a year of study and experimentation abroad, and we expect great things in his future.

the silhouette of birds flit through the branches of the forest which rises up in white trunks on the verdant green of this flower receptacle by Yamaguchi Yoshihiro enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Kasai Ju-in Mon Hanaike. The pebble textured surface is very unusual for Kutani ware, and bridges the glitzy world of porcelain and the more matte world of ceramics. The soft palette allows the vase to work in any decor, the abstract lines seeming to grow up randomly, without intent, and yet the overall design is quite striking. This is 31 cm (12 inches) diameter, 20 cm (8 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Yamaguchi Yoshihiro (b. 1951) studied under Asakura Isokichi and graduated from the Kutani Crafts School in 1971. He has exhibited with the Nitten, The Issuikai Ten, The Nihon Gendai Kogeiten National Modern Crafts Exhibition (awarded), The Nihon Dento Kogeiten National Traditional Crafts Exhibition as well as the National Modern Arts Exhibition (awarded) and was designated a Dento Kogeishi (Traditional Craftsman) in 1993.

The mouth of this vessel by Kato Yasuhide is placed off center, dissonant to the linear decoration which causes a tension between the two. It comes enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Senmon Beni Hakusai Henko (Red and White Colored Odd Shaped Vessel with Line Decoration). It is 30 cm (12 inches) tall, 18.5 x 13.5 cm (7-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches) at the base and I excellent condition. Retaining the original Shifuu and Shiori.
Kato Yasuhide was born the eldest son of (to be) Living National Treasure Kato Takuo in 1945. He came to prominence when he was awarded top prize at the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition in 1975. Focusing on sculptural forms, he was awarded and served as a juror for the Nitten National Exhibition where he exhibited consistently. In 1995 he succeeded the family name, becoming Kato Kobei VII. In 2000, upon the death of his father, he withdrew from the Nitten and in 2006 picked up his fathers legacy of research into Persian and silk Road ceramics. He has received high praise, awarded the status of holder of intangible cultural properties in Tajimi City and is former President of the Mino Ceramic Society.

Every facet is unique on this natural torn shape by Kishimoto Kennin enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Iga Hanaike ‘Honoka’ or Fire Flower. It is much like a flower in clay, rising up from the bulb, the flowers placed into it the extension of the stalk. It is 32.5 cm (12-3/4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Kishimoto Kennin has been working with clay since the 1950s, devouring styles along the way. Shino, Seto, Oribe, Iga and Celadon, all very different approaches which he masters one at a time, extending his unique view of the arts to new realms, and moving on to the next challenge when his appetite and personal genius has been satiated. He was exhibited and prized at the National Japanese Crafts Exhibition (Nihon Dento Kogei Ten), National Ceramics Exhibition (Nihon Togei Ten), Chunichi International Ceramics Exhibition (Chunichi Kokusai Togei Ten) and Asahi Togei Ten among others, and is held in several important international collections. His Iga work is particularly remembered.

A earth-textured smoky black vase by Sato Kazuhiko enclosed in a superb signed wooden boxwith mori-buta (domed-lid) titled Kokuto Tsubo. It is 34.5 cm (13-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition. One of my personal favorites, Sato Kazuhiko was born in Kanagawa prefecture in 1947. He graduated the Tokyo University of Art Ceramic department advanced studies in 1972. Trained under Living National Treasures Tamura Koichi and Fujimoto Yoshimichi, his graduation work was awarded a prize. He held his first solo exhibition the next year, a difficult feat for a young artist. In 1979 his work was displayed in New York’s Bloomingdales Department store, and the following year he was selected for exhibition in Sidney and Melbourne, Australia. Three years later his works would travel to Washington DC and London. From there he blossomed, one can only wonder how he kept up with the demand or the number of exhibitions he was asked for each year. He is a widely displayed artist and author of many books on the ceramic arts. He also plays guitar and piano, self-taught! For more information on this artist see Modern Japanese Ceramics in American Collections (1993).

A set of five square plates; each uniquely decorated with abstract floral motifs in blue by Shigemori Yoko enclosed in a compartmentalized wooden box titled kakuzara. Each is roughly 23 cm (9 inches) square and in excellent condition, the box annotated by her brother.
Shigemori Yoko (1953-2021) was born in Kagoshima. Yoko came to Kyoto where she initially studied painting at the Kyoto Tankidai Art College, then moved to ceramics at the Kyoto Municipal Art University where she studied traditional pottery techniques under Kondo Yutaka before entering advanced courses under Yagi Kazuo, graduating in 1979. Her first solo exhibitions were held while still a student, at Gallery Iteza in Kyoto. She eschewed the world of competitive exhibitions in favor of the intimacy of private galleries, and her list of solo exhibitions is expansive. She received the Yagi Kazuo prize in 1986 and 1988 at the Nihon Gendai Togeiten. She was one of five artists featured in Toh, volume 76, The first issue dedicated to Kyoto Potters. Toh was at the time the most in depth survey of important contemporary potters published in 1993. Her work is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Architectural forms or perhaps the abstracted leaves of a bamboo rise from the surface of this fluting pentagonal vase by Takenaka Ko enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Hakuji Chomon Gokaku Bin (White-glazed Carved-decoration Five-sided Vase). No clue in the name, the artist has left the interpretation up to the viewer. It is 27 cm tall, 16 cm diameter and in excellent condition.
Ko (born 1941) apprenticed under future Living National Treasure Kondo Yuzo before establishing his own kiln in 1970. He was the recipient of one of Japans most prestigious awards, the JCS award (Japanese Ceramics Society) in 1980. He was designated an Intangible Cultural Property of Kyoto in 1995 (Mukei Bunkazai or prefectural Treasure). Works by this artist are held in the Victoria Albert Museum, and the British Museum as well as both the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo and Kyoto among many others. For more on this influential artist see the catalog for the exhibition “Japanese Ceramics Today: Masterpieces from the Kukichi Collection” (Smithsonian Institute) or Winter Whites: The Porcelains of Takenaka Ko, by Suzanne Mitchell, New York, 2003. Also, Contemporary Clay, Japanese Ceramics for the New Century by Joe Earle, 2005.

A playful bowl in vivid colors by Tokuda Junko (Tokuda Yasokichi IV) enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled simply Kutani Chawan. It is 13cm (just over 5 inches) diameter, 8.5 cm (3-1/4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Tokuda Junko (Yasokichi IV) was born the first child of future Living National Treasure Tokuda Masahiko in 1961. While on a trip to the United States in her mid-20s, the young Tokuda came across a pot from Jingdezhen, China and drew her back to the fold of the family tradition. She graduated from the Institute for Kutani in 1990 and embarked on her path as an artist. Succeeding the family name in 2010 upon the passing of her father, Junko is one of very few female heads of traditional potting family.