Bizen-type stoneware vase with natural ash glaze and scorched surface colouring, by Yamamoto Toshu (1906-1993), Japanese, ca.1950.

Vase consisting of a tapering cylindrical body with a short constricted neck widening to an upright mouth with a thick flattened rim; pair of lugs attached on opposite sides of the neck. Thrown from Bizen stoneware clay, wavy combing around the mouth; irregular bands, probably applied by thumb or finger, run around the lower and upper parts of the main body; deep vertical hera (knife) slashes to the front and back of the main body; flat, slightly indented base showing the traces of string cutting. Wood fired with scorching, heavy encrustation and natural ash glazing over two-thirds of the form; unglazed areas varying from grey to a deep brownish red which has developed in places a metallic, coppery sheen.

This tea ceremony flower vase by Yamamoto Toshu (1906-1993) is a classic example of a piece of modern Bizen ware closely fashioned after examples of Bizen ceramics of the Momoyama period (1568-1615). The form is heavily sculpted, and the clay surface, which bears deposits of ash from the wood used to fuel the kiln in which the vase was fired, is dramatically scorched. Yamamoto was appointed a Living National Treasure (Important Intangible Cultural Property) in 1987 under the system established by the Japanese government in the mid-1950s.

FE.56-1993