Catalog: Artists: Ceramics: Pottery: Plates (38)

A very heavy unusual charger by modern avant-garde artist Suzuki Goro decorated with Oribe colored graffiti of traditional themes enclosed in the original signed wooden box. Combs, hairpins and bamboo and ceramic pipes in orange, green and black decorate the pale sand-textured surface of the massive charger. Typical of this artist is cut from a very thick slab with an irregular edge. On back a self portrait hunches over the clay forming a large vase, the caption beside reading Nanikuso! (I will not lose!) The dish is 17-1/2 inches (44 cm) diameter, weighing more than 7 kilograms (15 pounds) and is in perfect condition! Goro has a list of shows and prizes too lengthy to go through, but the highlights are, Nitten National Art Exhibition, Nihon Shin Kogei Ten (New National Crafts Exhibition), Nihon Gendai Kogei Ten (National Modern Crafts Exhibition), Asahi Togei Ten-(First of Show and governors prize), as well as the Kofukai Ten among many others.

Splendid Keshiki, it is difficult to describe this stunning square platter by Bizen master Kakurezaki Ryuichi (b. 1950) which comes enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The massive dish is torn and scraped from a single thick slab of clay. Spattered with natural ash glaze, it is a true masterpiece by this most sought after artist. The piece is 16-1/2 inches (42 cm) square and in excellent condition. It is likely that Ryuichi needs no introduction, one of the most well known of Bizen potters, he is interestingly originally not from Bizen but far off Nagasaki, which seems to have gifted him with the ability to see the clays potential beyond conventional form. He graduated the Osaka University of Fine Arts, then enjoyed a long apprenticeship under Bizen Living National Treasure Isezaki Jun before opening his own kiln in 1986. Combining traditional technique with modern architectural form, He was recipient of the Japan Ceramics Society Award, Grand Prize at the Fifth Contemporary Tea Ceremony Utensils Exhibition, Tanabe Museum and has a list of public and private exhibitions which go beyond this brief add, including a showing in New York this year. His works are held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, National Ceramic Museum of France and the Tanabe Museum among others. In preference to the wishes of this artist we are not listing the pice online.