A large rounded ceramic flask with a broad shoulder and low, narrow mouth, finished in a range of gradated glazes ranging from rich ruby red to eggshell blue, the base...
A large rounded ceramic flask with a broad shoulder and low, narrow mouth, finished in a range of gradated glazes ranging from rich ruby red to eggshell blue, the base with an artist’s mark
Comes with the original paulownia-wood tomobako storage box, the lid inscribed outside Momijiyū henko Toyohisa (Flask with red maple glaze, Toyohisa) and sealed Toyohisa ; inscribed inside Dai 37kai Mino Tōgeiten Chūnichishō jushō sakuhin (Work awarded the Chūnichi [Newspaper] Prize at the 37th Mino Ceramic Exhibition). This took place in 1993.
Born into a family producing ceramics, Katō studied at the Gifu Prefectural Ceramics Research Institute, a facility that has nurtured many of Japan’s leading contemporary ceramic artists. While working as a member of the family team, he started his own creative practice and first received an exhibition award in 1983. The present work is a masterpiece from the early years of Katō’s mature period, combining an artfully potted variant of the time-honored henko flask shape with a subtly gradated glaze of his own devising.