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Mingei potter Ueda Tsuneji (1914-1987) was master of the Kinozara-yama kiln in Kyoto which he opened in 1936. An apprentice of Kawai Kanjiro, Ueda studied the difficult mosaic-marbled style known as neriage or nerikomi with the great Kawai who reinvented this Chinese T'ang dynasty style. Ueda's work is in the Japan Folk Crafts Museum as well as many prominent private collections. This is a classic Ueda neriage chawan and one of maybe one or two that find me each year. This chawan fully illustrates why Ueda was one of the foremost neriage potters in Japan, even surpassing Kawai in the detail of design. His technique is masterful and eloquent, with a rich pattern of clay color easily seen over the body as well as on the unglazed base. He applies a clear glaze on the body and this creates a glassy area on the outside in places as well as in the pool. From a Kyoto great, this chawan is 7cm tall, 13.5cm wide, comes with a signed box and is in perfect condition.
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