Shino Chawan of great Keisen Yano (favorite potter of Emperor Akihito)

A beautiful Shino Chawan by one of the best Japanese artists of the 20th century, Yano Keisen, made 70 years ago. His ceramics were part of the wedding of the Japanese Emperor Akihito in 1959 and since then part of the imperial household.

It comes with its originally signed and sealed wooden box without chips or cracks.

Yano Keisen was a Japanese Asian Modern & Contemporary artist. He was born in the year 1897 as the second son of Nagae Shotaro in Kozoji-cho, Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture.

In 1942, he produced a tea bowl to celebrate the 88th birthday of Toyama Mitsuru, and was given the name of Keisen.

In 1952, he made a tea bowl for Master Rosen Takashina, the abbot of Eiheiji Temple, the president of the Buddhist Church of Japan, to celebrate his 77th birthday, and was given the character for Sen (hermit) and also the name Kei-Sen.

The first solo exhibition was held in Tokyo in 1955 at the initiative of Kawabata Yasunari, Daibutsu Jiro and others.

He held a solo exhibition in Nagoya in 1956 under the auspices of the Chubu Keizai Newspaper Co.

He held a joint exhibition with Masanokoji Saneatsu and Munakata Shiko in Nagoya in 1957.

Some of his Shino tea bowls were sent and used at the wedding of the Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michio Shōda in 1959.

He began producing Honan ware in Otsu in 1851.

Since then, he has held solo and collaborative exhibitions at Maruei Department Store in Nagoya, Meitetsu Department Store, and other places. He died in 1965.

In 2003, an item of him was rated 600,000 yen ($4500) by the Appraisal Institute of Fine Arts.