Page 5

Artistic contemporary Chawan by Star Potter Koie Ryoji 1600 $ sold

Here is a fascinating Oribe Chawan (tea bowl) made by Koie Ryoji, one of the best internationally known contemporary Japanese potters. It is another embodiment of the artist’s spirit, with a shape that remains free and moving, rough, unique and dynamic. Its colors and its rawness is reminiscent of a wild landscape. As with many works by the famous artist, this piece’s dynamism conveys pure energy and raw strength. Through its shiny glaze, rough texture and primitive markings, one gets the sense of the primary force that has shaped it through the craftsman’s lucid spirit. The authenticity and honesty of this potter’s works, as well as the feeling of freedom they radiate, have given him the recognition he deserves.

Koie Ryoji, born in 1938 in Tokoname, graduated the Tokoname industrial school and moved on to work at the City Ceramic Research Facility. In 1966 he established his own studio. Among many other prizes he won the Japan Ceramic Society Gold Award which is the most prestigious pottery prize in Japan. This is a true artist who finds inspiration in anything, and his creations are expressions of his will to constantly redefine his work and surprise the viewers. Koie Ryoji’s reputation extends beyond Japan. He has exposed his works in many renowned national and international venues.

No chips or cracks.

The original signed wood box and a detailed profile of the artist are part of our offer.

Size: 8,7 cm height x 16,1 cm in diameter

Shipping included.

_______

Aka Raku Koetsu Utsushi Chawan by greatest Nakamura Kohei 1500 $ sold

A spectacular 'Koetsu-utsushi' Aka Raku Tea Bowl by Nakamura Kohei, enclosed in the original signed wooden box. Mint and true museum quality. Kohei (1948-) was born the son of the famous Kanazawa potter. He learned the ceramics from his father, Nakamura Baizan II, and his brothers Kinpei an artist best known for his contemporary art objects. Devouring styles along the way, from celadon to Kohiki, Ido, Hakeme, Mishima, Irabo, Raku (Chojiro and Koetsu), and all are so expertly crafted down to the irregular distortions, muddy colors, and austere kannyu and kase glaze effects, that one might almost mistake them for antiques handed down from generation to generation.

Kohei Nakamura met a 'Raku' tea bowl by Koetsu at a museum in Seto, when he started learning pottery. The tea bowl was strikingly impressive and since then he has kept trying to making copies of Koetsu or Chojiro's tea bowls to be close to them. Copied tea bowls by Nakamura are not just copies of Koetsu or Chojiro, but they lead us to Nakamura’s original aesthetic world. Nakamura's tea bowls let us feel the vitality from our inside and the philosophical deapth of it. In the world of ceramics, this kind of work is known as UTSUSHI. Kohei has been engaged in the creation of extremely fine utsushi of a range of tea bowls that more or less defined the aesthetic of tea bowls in the second half of the 16th century.

The result is a perfect symbiosis between Momoyama ceramics and contemporary ceramic art. He has been displayed both nationally and internationally innumerable times.

Born the third son of the famous Kanazawa potter, Baizan Nakamura, he initially displayed his exceptional talent through the creation of contemporary ceramics. He caused a sensation in 1983 with an exhibition at New York's Garth Clark Gallery, but following his return to Japan, he began to concentrate on producing traditional tea bowls.

Further informations:

1973 Graduated from the sculpture department of Tama University of Art. 1979 Award - National fellowship, Agency for Cultural Affairs. 1989 Award - Grand-Prix, Yagi-Kazuo Prize Exhibition. 1990 Japan Clay Work, sponsored by the Japan Foundation (travelling to Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand) Crafts Exhibition (Umeda Hankyu Department Store, Osaka; Yurakucho Hankyu, Tokyo) International Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition 'Changing Pottery' (Shiga prefectural Togei-no-mori Museum) Japanese Clay Work 'Now' 100 Selections Exhibition (Etoile Museum, Paris, Mitsukoshi Department Stores, Japan) 1992 International Exhibition of Ceramic Art (National Historial Museum, The Republic of China) 1993 Contemporary Clay Work 1950-1990 (Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art) 1994 International Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition (Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum) 1996 The Suntory Museum Grand Prize Exhibition'96 (Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo) 1999 Contemporary Ceramic Art (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) Japanese Craft Work "Now" 100 Selections Exhibition (Etoile Museum, Paris, Mitsukoshi Department Stores, Japan) Japanese Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition - Movement of Avant- Garde (Holland) 2004-2009 Numerous shows at galleries in Japan 2010 Solo exhibition at Ginza Ippodo Gallery 2012 Art Crafting Towards the Future (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa) Solo exhibition at Nomura Art Museum, Kyoto 2013 Contemporary Master Tea Bowl Exhibition (Musee Tomo, Tokyo) Others.

Public Collections

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art. Shiga Prefectural Museum of Modern Art. Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art. Japan Foundation. Shiga prefectural Togei-no-mori Museum. 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Nomura Art Museum, Kyoto. "Japan House" Museum of Modern Art, Argentina. Everson Museum of Art, New York. Mint Museum, North Carolina. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Others.

Size: 10,3 cm height x 12,8 cm diameter

Shipping included

_____

Outstanding Kuro-Oribe Chawan by legendary Suzuki Goro 3500 $ sold

This magnificent chawan is a perfect embodiment of the Oribe tradition of Japanese pottery by legendary master and modern avangarde artist Suzuki Goro, mint condition and enclosed in its original signed wood box.

He surely needs no introduction. Suzuki is one of those once in 500 years' type of artists. Suzuki Goro is a potter who goes beyond that usual appellation. He has developed his own way of expressing himself through ceramics, basing his work on traditional styles from the Mino tradition: Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto, Setoguro and the Karatsu tradition.

For Suzuki Goro a chawan should be a kokoro-utuswa, a 'place' in which to discover oneself, a vessel to hold your spirit. A chawan must have sublime grace and depth, being a visible (and invisible) expression of the potter's understanding of chado, the Way of Tea.

Suzuki imbues all his chawan with such a feeling. Even the ones that at first appear uninviting, with spiraling pointed spurs or deeply pinched grooves, offer up untold delights when handled.

And that's the purpose of a chawan. On the surface, the chawan is a receptacle from which to drink tea. But if that were the only purpose, why not use a paper cup? The true chawan, like Suzuki's, hints at the connections between space, time and the divine. It brings art into our hands and touches us in profound ways. The very best arouse a silent wonder that permeates the skin-encapsulated ego we call 'I'.

Suzuki 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. He has a strong and devout following both domestic and international.

Perfect condition.

Size: 8,3 cm height x 11,8 cm in diameter.

Shipping included

_____

Fantastic Nezumi-Shino Chawan by legendary Suzuki Goro 3700 $ sold

This magnificent chawan is a perfect embodiment of the Shino tradition of Japanese pottery by legendary master and modern avangarde artist Suzuki Goro, in mint condition and enclosed in its original signed wood box.

Suzuki imbues all his chawan with such a feeling. Even the ones that at first appear uninviting, with spiraling pointed spurs or deeply pinched grooves, offer up untold delights when handled.

Perfect condition.

Size: 8,1 cm height x 14,4 cm in diameter.

Shipping included

_________________

Perfect Kohiki-de Chawan by Shiro Tsujimura 3995 $ sold

We like to show you this Kohiki-de chawan made by one of the most famous contemporary artists of Japan, Shiro Tsujimura, enclosed in its originally signed wood box. Modeled after Korean Yi Dynasty (1392-1910) Punch'ng wares, Kohiki typically refers to an iron-rich clay body covered over with white slip and then a translucent glaze. In Japan, the Kohiki style started with Korean potters and appealed greatly to the busho chajin or warrior-tea men of the late 1500s. Kohiki is thus a style closely associated with tea.

Very few potters in the current Japanese ceramic world make chadogu (tea utensils) as well as Tsujimura Shiro (born 1947). He doesn't concentrate on any one genre though -- he fires Shigaraki, Iga, Shino, Kohiki, Ido, Oku-Korai, Kuro Oribe and Setoguro all with the same intensity and finesse. He was honored with a solo chadogu exhibition at the Kyoto Chado Shiryokan in 1999, only the second contemporary pottery to have such an exhibition after Kyoto veteran Fujihira Shin.

One of the leading ceramic artists of Japan, Tsujimura's art and approach are founded on the beauty and purity of the earth and its relationship and transformation with nature and fire. Tsujimura's creative and artistic personality is anything but conventional. Inspired, in 1965, by a classic Ido tea bowl from the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, ancient Japanese and Korean techniques and traditions, and from his experience in the Zen temple of Sanshoji, Tsujimura's work is based on a strict relationship with the past and his uncompromising individuality.

Self-taught, one of the beauties of Tsujimura's work comes from his lack of formal artistic training, allowing a purity to his creations. The individuality of his art, and his own individuality as an artist can be summarized in his statement: 'I have no teacher, and I take no apprentices'. Independent, he creates his own style and his own techniques, always linked, however, to the traditions of the past.

In his own words: 'To think about many things or to reflect doesn't help to make a successful object. Success comes when it comes, it fails when it fails.' -Shiro Tsujimura

His studio, built in the mountains of Nara, is a mythical site and the birthplace of his creations. It is with the earth from his property that Tsujimura creates his own clay. He works it, fires it and lets it mature and age with the passing of time. Indeed, one can find buried ceramics, covered with vines and bamboo. These pieces that age with time illustrate the importance that Tsujimura places on the intangible quality of nature and the passing of time.

One of the greatest ceramic artists in Japan, Tsujimura is a perfectionist in his art and recognizes his obsession with achieving his goals. Tsujimura is incontestably, the most capable artist to create works of art that retain the purity, and respect the traditions of Zen, Japanese and Korean ceramic art of the past.

Mint condition.

Size: 8,7 cm height x 15,4 cm in diameter.

Shipping included

_____

Mashiko Chawan by Shoji Hamada 3500 $ sold

A true Mashiko chawan by greatest Shoji Hamada, enclosed in its signed wood box and an authentification of Shinsaku Hamada.

Hamada Shoji (1894 - 1978) was one of the founding fathers of the Studio Pottery movement, who came over to England with his friend, Bernard Leach, to start the Leach Pottery in St. Ives, Cornwall back in 1920. Like Leach, Hamada did not come from a pottery background but had studied ceramics briefly in Tokyo. Upon his return to Japan, Hamada set up a workshop amongst the rural potters of Mashiko and was based there until his death. In 1955 he was designated as a ‘Living National Treasure' for his involvement and promotion of folk art pottery and the Mingei philosophy.

It is said that the only pots from Hamada’s pottery that he threw and decorated entirely on his own were his teabowls and here we have one such example.

Mint condition.

Size: 2,9'' height x 6,2'' in diameter.

Shipping included

_____

Museum Quality Shino Masterpiece Chawan by Legendary Tokuro Kato 5000 $

We like to present you this Shino Masterpiece of legendary Tokuro Kato, named 'amongst the clouds', coming with corner protections, a silk shifuku, a stamped pouch and its original double wood box, signed and sealed (Signature of 'Gen' - please compare http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/christies-south-kensington/catalogue-id-srchristi10016/lot-333068c2-4555-4b6a-abba-a3f700026090). It is in absolutely mint condition, a museum quality piece of art. We also will add the fine book 'The world of Tokuro', 1994, 108 pages.

Tokuro (1898 - 1985) was the flamboyant, boisterous and often-arrogrant artist. But he was brilliant, nonetheless, and his charismatic artistry heightened the Japanese consciousness towards pottery as one of the leading artforms that the country had to offer the world.

In 1952 he was nominated as a Living National Treasure but he refused to take that honor.

Note: a similar Shino guinomi was exhibited at the Arakawa Toyozo and Kato Tokuro Exhibition in the Sano Museum (Mishima), Oct. 8 to Nov. 8, 2004 and at the Takashimaya (Kyoto), Feb. 23 - March 7, 2005. Go to: e-yakimono.net/html/arakawa-tokuro_32.html

A similar chawan of Tokuro was sold at Christie's in 1991 for 10.000 USD ( link: christies.com//lotfinder/lot/a-contemporary-shino-ware-tea-bowl-2281539-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=2281539&sid=47ffa76d-83d2-442a-ab53-5081eed791a2 )

Size: 9 cm height x 13,5 cm in diameter.

Shipping included

_____

Page 6