Catalog (558)

Rare bronze shishi statue by renaissance artist/potter, Tsukigata Nahiko. This solid and impressive bronze is well sculpted with wonderful details and prominently signed on the rear depicting the "god of wealth or household", Daikoku with his mallet and bag of plenty, one of the Seven Lucky Gods but cleverly represented by a shishi, lion dog which Tsukigata used in a number of his bronze sculpture. This bronze measures approximately 13 x 13 x 15cm, weighs a bit more than 4 kilos is in excellent...

One time price drop on this mizusashi at the owners request.

Classic, robust Ko-Iga style mizusashi by veteran potter, Kojima Kenji. Clearly based on some Iga archetype this solid mizusashi was thrown and slightly manipulated to give the form a nice sense of gesture before adding thick and purposeful lugs and adding marks across the surface to further define the landscape of the piece. The face, entire shoulder and lid are covered in ash from a dark ominous area where the mizusashi sat in ...

Interesting and rare set of Iga chawan by the "grandfather" of modern Iga-yaki, Tanimoto Kosei and his son, Tanimoto Kei. Both of these wood fired chawan are robust pieces that typify the work of each artist and the modern Iga movement with areas of rich green ash balanced against toasty hi-iro fire color and allowing the tsuchi-aji, clay taste to be enjoyed as well. In each of the photos, the Tanimoto Kosei is on the left and the Tanimoto Kei on the right showing the characteristics, surface an...

Exceptional stoneware vase that was subtly and expertly faceted, glazed in a rich nuka style glaze and decorated in Tale of Genji inspired partridges in platinum lustre. The presence and volume of the pot are hard to put in to perspective with the dimensions, 12" x 8.5" and a guinomi has been placed in the last photo to give a sense of the scale. Rich in concept and execution, this vase is an exemplary example of Showa era pottery made sometime around 1980.

This important vase, exhibited i...

This unique and exotic dai-kannyu Hagi chawan was made by Yamato Tsutomu, son of the Hagi legend, Yamato Yasuo. Made of classic Hagi clay with thick crackle slip put on the clay, an ash based glaze is then used to complete this rather modern Hagi chawan which follows admirably in the footsteps of his father and teacher. This chawan has a wonderful range of colors and feels great in the hand, truly a tactile experience while being visually engaging. This dai-kannyu style was pioneered by his fath...

Rich gosu blue glaze covers this stoneware chawan with three areas of lyrical slip trailed decoration around the bowl. Made by the great-grandson of Kawai Kanjiro, this chawan by Kawai Sota is an excellent example of his work and the current direction of the Kawai-mon now approaching a century of tradition. This chawan measures 11.5 x 11cm and is in excellent condition with its original signed wood box.

(I am keeping the description brief in an effort to get these put up in a timely fashio...

Large, totemic Shigaraki vase by veteran master craftsman, Tani Seiuemon I. This impressive and well fired Shigaraki hanaire was thrown in two sections and joined to create the vase and foot of this pot made out of wonderful kinose clay from the region.

This vase measures 12.75" x 5" and is in perfect, original condition with tea cloth and original signed box.

This large and rather colorful kohiki chawan was made by Ogawa Tetsuo a specialist in slips and Korean slipware of which this pot is a classic example. The surface of the teabowl shows off a wide array of colors and visual textures with areas of gohonde fawn spots and a translucent, waxy ash glaze coving the pot. The richness of the surface makes this a rather stunning piece by Ogawa with much more activity than seen in many of his teabowls. The kodai is carefully crafted with a blend of colors ...

At nearly 13" tall, this large Persian blue style glazed vase cuts a great figure flanked by bold and detailed brushed of owls rendered within medallions and further detailed with patterns of decoration and faint gold accents to complete the piece. The full form is finished off with an elegant and purposeful neck that adds to the vertical nature of the vase without taking anything away from the presented brushwork and design under this attractive glaze.

Suzuki Takuji has had a stellar care...

Shigaraki hanaire by veteran Shigaraki master, Honiwa Rakunyu. In perfect condition with signed box and hand written, not stamped signature on the base used for special tea pieces.

10" tall

Honiwa Rakunyu II, though not a native of Shigaraki moved there and studied with Honiwa Rakunyu I, succeeded to the name in 1962 and set up a studio and a noborigama, later building his first anagama in 1971 which he named, Kochu-gama. Though Rakunyu II made a wide array of Shigaraki ware he spe...

Large, robust Madara-Karatsu mizusashi with undulating ribs around the circumference of the pot made by Karatsu specialist, Kojima Yoshiaki. In excellent condition with its original signed box, this mizusashi measures 22 x 18cm.

There is a nearly identical example of a mizusashi by Kojima Yoshiaki in the book, MODERN JAPANESE CERAMICS, pg.75, no.54.

Lyrical and whimsical porcelain tsubo by Ishira Akira with overglaze enamels in red, yellow, green and Persian blue decorating the pure white surface. The surface is covered in red enamel, aka-e style creating a floral framework for the three rabbits articulated around the circumference of the pot with accents in other shades of enamel. The brushwork is easily seen and studied and shows a delft and exceedingly experienced hand.

Ishira Akira (b. 1941) studied at the Tokyo national Univers...

This is a large and elegant salt fired enyu with a provocative crackle slip surface creating a wide array of textures and various color hues that make for a splendid chawan. measuring in at 14.2 x 8.6cm, this chawan was created by Tokoname mainstay, Ito Yushi and is rather typical of this style for which he is well known. Thrown out of a iron rich clay, the bowl was dipped in a slip with a specific surface tension before it was placed in the kiln and salt fired which has "glazed" the piece all o...

Generous Hagi chawan with a variety of colors infused within the white based glaze on a rich iron clay body by veteran potter, Udagawa Seikoku. This chawan is in great condition, measures 12.5 x 9cm and comes complete with its original signed wood box.

(I am keeping the description brief in an effort to get these put up in a timely fashion.)

Large, hand carved Oribe vase form by Kato Shinya (Sakusuke V). This large vessel was thrown round and later altered to the current form where the surface was meticulously hand carved in this bold repeat pattern around the form and then glazed over in a rich deep green Oribe glaze.

This vase measures 13.25" x 8" x 4" and is in excellent condition excepting for a small gold repair at the upper left corner of the first picture at the lip transition and still makes for a wonderful display p...

I'll start off by saying that I am selling this sculpture for a friend who is moving to smaller lodgings and I personally know almost nothing other than the obvious facts regarding this offering and this is being offered as is. What I can tell you is this large sculpture measures 47 x 15 x 24cm overall and is in very good condition comprised of the tiger pair on a raised plinth of lacquered (?) wood that is being referred to as; "two tigers walking". The wood base has remnants of green felt and ...

Well fired and purposeful wood fired chawan by Aomori potter, Imai Rikei fired in the longest kiln in Japan at over 103 meters long (as certified by the folks at Guinness Records). This chawan appears to defy gravity as all of the ash runs up the pot culminating in spots in deep, brown-green bidoro drips as the chawan was fired upside down where the bottom and foot of the bowl are covered in ash making for a satiny smooth surface. The interior of the chawan is flashed and where it sat on the foo...

Traditional style chaire which was first glazed to the shoulder and then wood fired for a haikaburi effect. This chaire is in perfect condition with lid, bag and signed box and measures 7.5 x 6.8cm. The chaire mouth is not quite perfectly round and the lid fits very tightly.

Yamada Masakazu, born in 1951 is a traditional Mino craftsman and has been president of the Mino potters Association and specializes in wood fired Shino, Oribe and haiyu pottery.