A truly unique work of Shino pottery developed among the company of some of Japan’s most respected and influential potters of the last century. Defying conventions of form and genre, this exceptional mizusashi looks like it could have emerged from the ground fully formed, the result of geological processes lasting millennia. The creator of this fine work is none other than Tsuboshima Dohei, a true master of the ceramic arts.
Born in 1929, at the age of 17 Tsuboshima took an apprenticeship with one of Japan’s more unconventional potting legends, Kawakita Handeishi. Handeishi is noteworthy due to the fact that, although entering the world of Japanese ceramics at a relatively late age, he was able to achieve a substantial degree of notoriety; not only as a potter but also as a poet, painter, and calligrapher. Tsuboshima was Handeishi’s main apprentice, first among a number of other great up-and-coming ceramicists that Handeishi was mentoring including Toyo Kaneshige, Kyuwa Miwa, and Toyozo Arakawa. After the death of Handeishi in 1963, Tsuboshima took over his kiln in Tsu, Mie prefecture and continued to produce works of a very high caliber while exhibiting widely and acting as the steward of Handeishi’s legacy.
This piece is 9.5 inches at its widest point (24.2 cm) and stands 7.8 inches tall 19.8 cm). In excellent condition, it bears Dohei’s signature on the base, comes wrapped in a beautiful protective cloth bearing his seal, and is housed in its original signed box (tomobako).
