By Shoji Hamada
Located in Studio City, CA
An exquisite, beautifully crafted Japanese pottery vase by master potter Shoji Hamada featuring Hamada's famous signature tenmoku glaze with kaki trailing. The original Hamada signed and sealed wood storage box is included as well as the written appraised signature of his son Shinsaku Hamada. The vase also comes with a printed artist profile/sales brochure of Hamada (featuring some of his other presumably available work). It appears this piece was offered at the Keio Department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo. At first glance, this may seem odd but in fact, this is quite an honor in Japan. This store is known for selling and exhibiting such high-profile artists and potters as Bernard Leach, Lucie Rie, Gyokudo Kawai, Shiko Munakata, Kawai Kanjiro, and Rosanjin Kitaoji. A major goal of many ceramic artists in Japan is to have a one-man exhibition in a department store. For many Westerners, this is a strange concept. Some of the larger department stores have up to three or four dedicated galleries showing concurrent art exhibitions. A well-known artist's exhibition can bring in hundreds, often thousands, of customers to a store and increase revenue for other sales in the millions-of-yen range. These exhibits are usually longer running and highlight a potter's career, like a Living National...
Category
Mid-20th Century Japanese Showa Stoneware Vases and Vessels
