Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Bowl

about 1975 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Shimaoka Tatsuzo (1919-2007) was the leading disciple and student of Hamada Shoji (1894-1978), whom he succeeded as the pre-eminent potter of Mashiko, the ceramic-producing town northeast of Tokyo which Hamada made his home in 1924 on his return from having helped Bernard Leach (1887-1979) establish the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall. Shimaoka, like Hamada before him, was well known outside Japan as well as within, and in 1996 was appointed a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government.

The hallmark of Shimaoka's work was his use of rope-impressed patterning. While this was partly a result of his father having been a rope-maker, it was more to do with the fact that the area of Japan in which Mashiko is situated is home to numerous prehistoric sites once occupied by the Jomon (lit. 'cord pattern') people, whose name is derived from the rich variety of earthenwares decorated with rope-impressed patterns that was a key characteristic of their culture.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Stoneware, glazed
Brief description
Bowl, glazed stoneware, made by Shimaoka Tatsuzo, Japan (Mashiko), ca. 1975
Physical description
Bowl of stoneware with grey glaze, white swirls of slip on upper part of inside and whole of outside, designs in copper-red and blue-grey on the outside.
Dimensions
  • Height: 6.5cm
  • Width: 15.9cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
Potter's mark above the footring.
Object history
Shown at the World Crafts Exhibition, Ontario.
Summary
Shimaoka Tatsuzo (1919-2007) was the leading disciple and student of Hamada Shoji (1894-1978), whom he succeeded as the pre-eminent potter of Mashiko, the ceramic-producing town northeast of Tokyo which Hamada made his home in 1924 on his return from having helped Bernard Leach (1887-1979) establish the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall. Shimaoka, like Hamada before him, was well known outside Japan as well as within, and in 1996 was appointed a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government.

The hallmark of Shimaoka's work was his use of rope-impressed patterning. While this was partly a result of his father having been a rope-maker, it was more to do with the fact that the area of Japan in which Mashiko is situated is home to numerous prehistoric sites once occupied by the Jomon (lit. 'cord pattern') people, whose name is derived from the rich variety of earthenwares decorated with rope-impressed patterns that was a key characteristic of their culture.
Bibliographic references
  • Japanese Ceramics Today, V & A (1983), p. 128
  • Gisela Jahn and Anette Petersen-Brandhorst, Erde und Feuer, Deutsches Museum (Munich, 1984), pp.229-231
Collection
Accession number
FE.9-1982

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdFebruary 12, 2000
Record URL
Download as: JSON