Catalog: Artists: Ceramics (951)

A set of ten sake cups by Takegoshi Jun depicting Umi-no-sachi (treasures of the sea) in aka-e and overglaze enamels enclosed in the original compartmentalized wooden box. Each cup is uniquely decorated with a delicacy in the raw, Shrimp, Red Snapper, blow fish et al. Each cup is 8 cm (roughly 3 inches) diameter and in excellent condition.
Takegoshi Jun (alternatively written Takekoshi) was born in Ishikawa prefecture, home to Kutani Yaki, the son of the third generation Takegoshi Taizan (1919-1984) in the early post-war era, 1948. He learned pottery techniques under his father, while training in Nihonga painting at the Kanazawa University of Fine Art, graduating in 1971. He then apprenticed under the Kutani monument Kitade Fujio, and began exhibiting with the Nitten National Exhibition. Since he has exhibited with many venues, garnering awards at the aforementioned Nitten, Shin Kogeiten New Crafts Fair, took top prize at the 38th Gendai Kogeiten (Modern Crafts Fair, and has been featured several times on Japanese Television. He received the Prestigious JCS award, on e of the highest honors for a Japanese potter, n 2007. Works by him are held in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Newark Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Yale University Art Gallery among others.

Two sake cups notched and torn from pure white porcelain by Kato Takahiro enclosed respectively in their original signed wooden boxes decorated with overlapping cubes titled Sake Cup. Each is roughly 6.5 cm (2-1/2 inches) tall, 5.5 cm (2-1/4 inches) square and both are in excellent condition, directly from the artist this year.
These are by the rising star Kato Hirotaka who was born in Tajimi, Gifu prefecture, home of Shino and Oribe in 1985. His work has been exhibited at the Takaoka Craft Competition, Itami International Craft Exhibition and Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition.

One of three sumptuous chawan in vibrant red, beautifully crafted on the potters wheel by Masatomo Toi complete with signed wooden box. It has a very thin lip, which may fool the viewer into thinking it is light, however it has a respectable weight, as the bowl is thicker at the bottom to both contain the heat and protect the hands of the holder from the boiling tea contained within. A single thumbprint in platinum marks the series. The unglazed base is also coated in platinum. In fact it has been fired three times, the initial bisk firing, the glaze firing, and the metal firing. I cannot help but equate this color with a classic sports car, so rich it almost seems out of place in Japan. However the contrast between the glossy red and the frothy green tea it is made for creates a dynamic conversation. Each roughly 13 cm (5 inches) diameter and in perfect condition, directly from the artist this spring.
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 these bowls are his first unadorned venture into the tea world (although we will also offer a few striking horned chawan as well). 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.

A set of five concentric back glazed sake-cups enclosed in the original signed wooden box by Yagi Akira. They vary in size from 2-1/2 inches to 4 inches diameter (6.5 to 10 cm) and in excellent condition. For a similar (admittedly larger) set see “Contemporary Clay, Japanese Ceramics for the New Century “(2005) by Joe Earle.
This name is a must have in any collection of modern Japanese Pottery. Akira was born in Kyoto in 1955, son of avant garde Yagi Kazuo (1918-1979) one of the founding members of Sodeisha. Akira was voted one of the 20 most important living artists by Honoho, Japans premier printed ceramic forum. Works by the artist are held in the British Museum, Victoria Albert Museum, Cleveland Art Museum, Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian and Tokyo Museum of Modern Art among many others. He was also the recipient of the Japan Ceramic Society (JCS) award in 1998, one in a long and prestigious list of awards. For more see “Quiet Clarity, Rin” (1996) or the aforementioned “Contemporary Clay, Japanese Ceramics for the New Century “(2005) by Joe Earle.

Five completely unique bowls by important contemporary artist Yamada Kazu showing five unique aspects of Mino-ware enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Meshiwan, Shino, Hikidashi guro, Oribe, Kiseto, Kakuyu Oribe and dating circa 2000. Each is roughly 5 inches (12.5 cm) diameter and all are in excellent condition.
Kazu was born in Tokoname city, one of Japans ancient kiln areas, into a line of potters. He would have been influenced early on by his father, Yamada Kenkichi and uncle living National Treasure Yamada Jozan. He graduated the Osaka Art University before moving to Echizen to establish his first kiln. He was propelled to international fame after building an Anagama kiln in Germany in 1988. He has been displayed domestically at the Asahi Togeiten, Nipon Togeiten and Chunichi Kokusai Togeiten as well as a host of private exhibitions in prominent galleries and department stores.

A set of five small dishes in the shape of an upturned roof tile covered in tri-colored glaze by Murakoshi Takuma enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shunju Kawara-zara. Each is roughly 14 x 12 x 5 cm (5-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2 inches) and all are in excellent condition.
Murakoshi Takuma is one of those enigmas who simply lives to work with clay. He does not seek to make a living through pottery, but through his primal approach has earned a following which keeps his work in high demand. He was born in Aichi prefecture in 1954 and began his stroll down the pottery path in 1980 under the tutelage of Kyoto potter Umehara Takehira. Favoring very rough Shigaraki glaze, he established his own kiln in 1997 in the Kiyomizu pottery district of Kyoto, then moved to Nagaoka in 2002. Although eschewing the world of competitive exhibitions, he has been picked up by many of Japan’s preeminent galleries, including private exhibitions at the prestigious Kuroda Toen of Tokyo’s Ginza District.

7 various porcelain plates by Living National Treasure Kondo Yuzo decorated with blue, gold and red glazes and featuring pomegranates on six, the sun rising over a precipitous mountain scene decorating the last. The smallest are 18 c (7-1/4 inches) diameter, the largest 24.5 cm (just under 10 inches and all are in excellent condition. There is no box.
Kondo Yuzo (1902-1985) was born in the Gojozaka district of Kyoto and studied alongside Kawai Kanjiro and Hamada Shoji at the Kyoto Ceramics Research facility, where he studied kiln technique directly under Shoji. He then apprenticed under recently returned Tomimoto Kenkichi for three years before establishing himself as a unique artist in the Kiyomizu district of Kyoto in 1924. He served as a professor at the Kyoto University of Art where he helped shape generations of potters. After an illustrious career he was named a Living National Treasure for Sometsuke Porcelain in 1977. Works by the artist are held in the collection of the LACMA, Cleveland and Brooklyn Museums of Art, Kyoto Municipal and Tokyo National Museums of Modern Art among many others.

A small celadon box by in the shape of an elephane by Akiyama Yo enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Zo Kogo. Kogo are used to carry Shaped Incense. It is 2 x 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 inches (6 x 5 x 6.5 cm) and is in excellent condition.
Akiyama Yo was born in Yamaguchi, home of Hagi pottery) in 1953, but went to Kyoto to study at the Kyoto Municipal University of Arts in 1976. He has an impressive list of exhibitions both domestic and abroad. He was recipient of the prestigious JCS (Japan Ceramics Society) award in 1996 as well as the coveted Tanabe Art Museum Contemporary Forms in Tea Prize in 2006 among many others. Work by him is held in the Victoria Albert Museum, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Minneapolis Institute of Art, National Museum of Modern Art and Municipal Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Portland Museum, Museum of Modern Art in Shiga, Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery of South Australia among many others..

Like the charred remains of an open book deep fingerprints still visible from the opening hands within, this is a fine example of the work of Avante Garde Akiyama Yo enclosed in the original wooden box dating from 2013. It is 6-1/2 x 5 inches (16/5 x 13 cm) and is in excellent condition.
Akiyama Yo was born in Yamaguchi, home of Hagi pottery) in 1953, but went to Kyoto to study at the Kyoto Municipal University of Arts in 1976. He has an impressive list of exhibitions both domestic and abroad. He was recipient of the prestigious JCS (Japan Ceramics Society) award in 1996 as well as the coveted Tanabe Art Museum Contemporary Forms in Tea Prize in 2006 among many others. Work by him is held in the Victoria Albert Museum, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Minneapolis Institute of Art, National Museum of Modern Art and Municipal Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Portland Museum, Museum of Modern Art in Shiga, Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery of South Australia among many others..

This past summer I had occasion to visit Richard Milgrim in his Mountain Studio and asked him to pair some sake cups and Tokkuri for us. It is a rare opportunity to have an artist personally select pieces which he feels work together. This set is making use of his signature Concord glaze (Konko-yu) from America, with clay from Japan, while the cup is also using a variant of that glaze Black Concord (Konko-guro). The Tokkuri is 9 cm (3-1/2 inches) diameter, 12 cm (5 inches) tall. The rim of the cup wavers between 6 and 6.5 cm diameter (roughly 2 inches) and both are new from the artist in perfect condition.
Richard Milgrim (b. 1955) of White Plains New York graduated Antioch College in 1979 following a year travelling in Japan and internship at the Fogg Museum of Harvard. That same year he began down a path, following a “way” as it is called in Japan, Sado or Chanoyu, the Japanese Tea Ceremony. That same year he returned to Japan, apprenticing initially under Iwabuchi Shigeya while studying at the Midorikai of Urasenke. His first solo exhibition was held in 1981, one of many, and he subsequently began to move about Japan, gobbling up styles under various masters such as Living National Treasure Fujiwara Yu, Kato Koemon and Tahara Tobei. He established his own kiln in Hiyoshi, North of Kyoto in 1984. He is probably the only foreign potter to be truly accepted into the brand conscious world of Japanese tea, and his shows frequently sell out early. From 2000 to 2014 he spit his time between Hiyoshi and a kiln he established in Concord Massachusetts, where he developed some innovative techniques and glazes now firmly a part of his repertoire in Japan. He is adept therefore with Shino, Oribe, Bizen, Seto, Karatsu and Yakishime styles. According to Richard “Since 1977 on my first arrival in Kyoto, I have been blessed with an unending flow of "deai" (encounters) that have almost been like stepping stones on the garden path, leading me into the innermost depths of the field of "Chatou" (tea ceramics).Undoubtedly the most significant "deai" was meeting Dr. Sen Genshitsu (the former 15th generation Grand Master of the Urasenke Tea Tradition), in 1979. With his guidance and endorsement over the years, including the naming of my 2 studios in both Japan-RICHADO-GAMA, and America- KONKO-GAMA, Dr. Sen has been the primary catalyst in the development of my career over the past 40 years.”

An elongated bowl playfully decorated in vivid color by Matsuda Yuriko enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Zukini Nagabachi. It is 49 x 16 x 7.5 cm (19-1/2 x 6 x 3 inches) and is in excellent condition.
Matsuda Yuriko is an avid exhibitor; it is a wonder she has time to do any work at all. Both within Japan (Nihon Togei Ten, Gendai Togei Ten etc.) and without she has an impressive list of exhibitions in a host of countries. She received the Yagi Kazuo prize in 1986 among many others. For more information on this artist and examples of her work see the books Contemporary Japanese Ceramics, Fired with Passion by Beatrice Chang and Samuel Lurie. Also see Contemporary Clay, Japanese Ceramics for the New Century based on the Museum of Fine Arts Boston exhibition or Soaring Voices, Contemporary Japanese Women Ceramic Artists (2010).

Bold colors ripple and bead like oil on the surface of this multifaceted object by Hashimoto Tomonari enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 27 x 24 x 23 cm (11 x 9-1/2 x 9 inches) and comes with a signed wooden box, directly from the artist.
Hashimoto Tomonari was born the son of a sculptor and has felt comfortable with the processes of creation since childhood. He graduated with a masters from the Kanazawa University of Art in March 2017, then relocated to Shigaraki. A visit to his humble home studio is eye opening. Although he comes across as shy in conversation, when you move on to the subject of art, he is all confidence. He was named a finalist for the Loewe Craft Prize in 2019 and is making international waves around the world. Work by him is held in the V&A in London, LACMA and a large sculpture has recently been installed in his home prefecture of Wakayama.

Exquisite kiln effects mark this Ujoyaki Tsubo by Imai Rikei from Aomori Prefecture enclosed in the original signed wooden box named Zuiha (Swirling wave). It is 33 cm tall, 29 cm diameter and in excellent condition. Imai Rikei was born in Aomori Prefecture in 1947, and fires in the Ujoykai traditional manner making use of the worlds longest climbing kiln (guiness book of world records, 103 meters long, you can see it on youtube). He has received a number of awards and exhibited with the Asahi Ceramics Exhibition (Asahi Togeiten) among others. He is the most important artist in this lesser known Northern tradition of Japanese pottery.

Reminiscent of an excavated Haniwa figure of a house, this museum quality vase is by Koinuma Michio and comes enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled very simply Tsubo. It is an iconic work by this eclectic artist, whose work is entirely unique and easily discernible. It is 27.5 cm (11 inches) square, 37 cm (14-3/4 inches) tall and in excellent condition. Due to size this will require special shipping consideration.
Koinuma Michio is a compelling figure unique among contemporary artists. He seems to have no limit to his imagination and creativity, still dazzling us with new concepts after four decades. Born in the hectic war years in 1936, he is incredibly intelligent, graduating the economics department of Osaka University, then on to Waseda, one of the top three schools in Japan, for graduate studies in economics and politics. Relinquishing that life he opened a kiln in Mashiko in 1970. Since 1978 he has been consistently displayed at the best galleries in Japan, as well as overseas. For more see Contemporary Japanese Ceramics Fired with Passion (ISBN -10: 1-891640-38-0) or To volume 10, which is dedicated entirely to him.
The image is based on Haniwa funerary objects. The Haniwa are terracotta clay figures of people, animals, and houses which were deposited at Japanese tombs during the Kofun period (3rd to 6th century) in Japan. Haniwa were created according to the wazumi technique, in which mounds of coiled clay were built up to shape the figure, layer by layer. Michio follows that style, then through a process of multiple firing and various techniques degrades the surface to create the feeling of antiquity. A strikingly similar image is published, figure 18, in the anthology Toh, volume 10. According to the encyclopedia of Ancient History many Haniwa are particularly detailed in their execution and thus provide a valuable insight into the culture of the period. Standing over one metre in height, the mysterious figures are a striking example of early Japanese sculpture.

Wow! Is what comes to mind the first time you see this daring silver glazed organic Kake Hana-ire by Okumura Hiromi. The clay folds about onto itself, forming a seed-like pod, with an opening in the top and wings extending out both sides. A wire loop is affixed to the back for wall hanging. A signed and stamped wooden plackard by the artist accompanies the piece. It is 11 x 14 x 5 inches (28 x 36 x 13 cm) and is in fine condition.
Okumura was born in Kyoto in 1953, and was thus from an early age inducted into the avant-garde world of pottery being created at that time by the founders of Sodeisha and their influence. He graduated the Kyoto Municipal University of Art Ceramic division in 1978. Throughout the 80s a slew of public and private exhibitions led him to an appointment as professor of Ceramics at Kyoto Seika University. He received Grand Prize at the Kyoten in 1990, and has since received other awards there. His work was selected for the traveling exhibition showcasing young Japanese talent “Japanese Pottery: The Rising Generation from Traditional Japanese Kilns”. He has been exhibited frequently in America as well.

An incredible organic form, the delicate petals appearing to waft in some tide by Shingu Sayaka enclosed in the original signed wooden box. A closed bud on the side is lined with hundreds of tiny sharp needles in black. It is 6 x 5 x 4 inches (15 x 13 x 10 cm) and in excellent condition.
Shingu Sayaka was born in Osaka, the industrial and commercial heartland of central Japan, in 1979. She graduated the Osaka University of Arts in 2001, before being selected as an artist in residence at the The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park. She exhibits her amazing sculptures at the Asahi Togeiten where she has garnered a number of awards, and has a list of exhibitions to back up her popularity.

An exquisite work of micro-calligraphy by young female artist Tamura Seito IV enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Karakusa moyo koro. It is roughly 4 inches tall and in new condition. Tamura Seito is a fourth-generation potter and chosen to inherit the tradition of Saiji micro-calligraphy for the Tamura family. She graduated Tsukuba University in 2004, then began to study under Tamura Keisei. In 2007 she graduated the Ishikawa prefectural Kutani Research Center and began a fellowship there. In 2010 she established her own kiln in Komatsu, and the following year changed her name from Natsuko to Seito.

A splash of gold like the August moon rises through wide brushed cobalt grasses on the crackle glazed surface of this Yunomi tea cup by Ando Hidetake enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Kinsai Yunomi. It is 9 cm (3-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Ando Hidetake was born third generation into a Mino pottery family in Gifu prefecture in 1938. He began an apprenticeship under Kato Tokuro in 1960. A testament to his skill, he was accepted for the first time four years later into the National Traditional Arts and Crafts Exhibition (Nihon Dento Kogei Ten), and followed that by taking governors prize at the Asahi Ceramics exhibition in 1970, and acceptance into the Japanese National Ceramics Exhibition (Nihon Togei Ten) in 1971; since he has displayed often with all of these important events. One of a small group of potters credited with the revival of Shino, he was named an Important Prefectural Cultural Property in 2003 (Gifu-Ken Juyo Mukei Bunkazai, the prefectural version of the Living National Treasure).