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Wild and rough Chawan by Koie Ryoji 1200 $

Here is a fascinating 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 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 sealed cloth are part of our offer.

Size: 8,8 cm height x 12,6 cm in diameter

Shipping included

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Perfect Mashiko Chawan by legendary Shoji Hamada 6000 $ sold

A perfect Mashiko chawan with high foot by greatest Shoji Hamada, enclosed in its originally signed double wood box. The bowl has a wonderful shiyo-yu salt glaze and - rarely seen on Hamada bowls - a figurative 'window' iron glazed design called maru mado. Hamda made such treasures only once a year in April because items with such glaze were very difficult to made.

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.

The bowl is well balanced and in mint condition. The uneven and unglazed part on the foot is not a fault. It is a natural kiln mark called shizen kama-atari (caused when the bowl was pulled out of the kiln).

Size: 9,2 cm height x 13,1 cm in diameter.

Shipping included

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Artful St. John's Series Chawan of Starpotter Koie Ryoji 2500 $ sold

Here is a fascinating 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.

This special piece of art was fired with Saint John's clay in the Johanna Kiln of the Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota in 2008, when Ryoji was a guest resident there. Highly recommended to collect. Please copy and click www.csbsju.edu/saint-johns-pottery/collaborations/guest-residencies

No chips, no cracks. The originally signed box is part of the offer.

Size: 6,9 cm height x 14,2 cm in diameter.

Shipping included

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Sophisticated Mashiko Chawan by legendary Shoji Hamada 3500 $

A sophisticated Mashiko chawan with beautiful glaze by greatest Shoji Hamada, enclosed in its originally signed wood box. The bowl has smoothly graduated colours, rarely seen on Hamada's tea bowls.

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: 8,5 cm height x 12,9 cm in diameter

Shipping included.

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Perfect Mashiko Chawan with shiyo-yu salt glaze by Shoji Hamada 4500 $ sold

A perfect Mashiko chawan with stunning glaze by greatest Shoji Hamada, enclosed in its originally signed wood box. The bowl has a wonderful shiyo-yu salt glaze. Hamada made such treasures only once a year in April because items with such glaze were very difficult to made.

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.

The bowl is well balanced and in mint condition.

Size: 9,1 cm height x 12,9 cm in diameter

Shipping included.

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Stunning Nezumi Shino Chawan by great Wakao Toshisada 3500 $

The only item of Wakao Toshisada in our collection!!! Handsome Nezumi Shino Chawan by great artist Wakao Toshisada, enclosed in its original double wooden box.

Patterns of flowers in pink on iron shaded with blue-grey on this bowl is a Toshisada special, a quality for which is is unsurpassed. A member of the Japan Crafts Association since 1970, Wakao has made a speciality out of so-called Grey Shino wares. Grey Shino wares were a relatively unusual product made at only a small number of Momoyama period kilns. The original technique involved the application of iron slip over a white stoneware body and the subsequent cutting away of areas of the slip coating to reveal the underlying clay. When covered in Shino glaze and fired, the revealed areas would show white and the areas coated in iron slip would show grey. Where the glaze was thin the grey tended towards red. Although in technical terms Wakao's work makes reference to Momoyama period tea wares, his imagery derives from Japanese literary traditions celebrated in the work of artists and designers of the Rinpa school. The combination of motifs on his art is suggestive of autumnal melancholy and a sense of loss and desolation.

Toshisada was born in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, home of Mino pottery, in 1933. He was first recognized at the New Crafts Exhibition of 1960, the first year he was first exhibited at the Central Japan Art Exhibition. Three years later he made his debut at the Asahi Ceramics Exhibition, following in 1965 with the National Traditional Crafts Exhibition. In 1971 he first exhibited with the Nihon Togeiten (All Japan Ceramics Exhibition) and was awarded the following year for the New Mino Artists Prize, gathering acclaim as a leader in the field.

After many domestic and international exhibitions he was awarded the Kato Kohei prize in 1986. Then he was recipient of prestigious Japan Ceramics Society Award in 1989. He was named an intangible cultural asset of Tajimi City in 1995, and of Gifu Prefecture in 2003.

Works by this superb artist are held in the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Freer Gallery and the Sackler among many, many others.

Please note that works of him are hard to find on the market.

Size: 8,6 cm height x 13,8 cm in diameter. Mint condition.

Shipping included.

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Mint Oribe Chawan by greatest Matsuzaki Ken 3500 $

Nothing I can say can convey the rugged beauty locked up of this Oribe chawan, made in 2015, signed and enclosed in the original signed wooden box and the 64 page exhibition catalogue 'Voice of the rain'. Matsuzaki Ken is one of the most important potters of our time.

Ken Matsuzaki was born in Tokyo in 1950 and received a degree in Ceramic Art from Tamagawa University School of Fine Arts, Tokyo. After graduating he moved to Mashiko in 1972 to apprentice with Tatsuzo Shimaoka (who himself had moved to Mashiko to study with Shoji Hamada). After a five year apprenticeship, Matsuzaki established his own kiln, Yuushin Gama, down the road from Mr. Shimaoka. Matsuzaki's works have a strong grounding in the Mingei philosophy though his approach is very contemporary, introducing a focus on the Oribe style with yohen, shino, and oribe glazing.

During his college years, Matsuzaki made two important decisions: one was to earn his livelihood as a potter, and the second was to apprentice with Tatsuzo Shimaoka (1919-2007). Shimaoka was the second Living National Treasure of Mashiko, Japan, a town renowned for its pottery. Shoji Hamada (1894-1978), the rst Living National Treasure of Mashiko, established the town’s reputation and was Tatsuzo Shimaoka’s teacher. Matsuzaki could not have better aligned himself to advance in the realm of ceramics, and his ery passion was fueled. After training with Shimaoka for ve years, Matsuzaki began to work independently.

His work was heavily in uenced by the Mingei movement, which focuses on nding beauty in handmade utilitarian objects for daily use. This traditional aesthetic is signi cant in Japanese pottery, but also capable of muting originality for the individual artist.

Works by Matsuzaki have been accepted into the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art (Ohio), The Worcester Museum of Art (Massachusetts), the Tikotin Museum (Israel), the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York).

Mint condition. Size: 7.5 cm height x 10.5 cm in diameter.

Shipping included

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Contemporary Oribe Chawan by great artist Koie Ryoji 1500 $

Here is a fascinating Chawan (tea bowl) made by Koie Ryoji, wild, rough and colorful, 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 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.

No chips or cracks (only aesthetically intended natural inborn kiln cracks).

Size: 9,9 cm height x 13,4 cm in diameter.

Shipping included

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