Bizen sake bottle

This is a Bizen sake flask by the master artisan Mitsuru Isezaki, who loved Bizen ware and made immense contributions to the Bizen region. It is an orthodox sake flask that eschews artifice, revealing the artist's absolute faith in the innate charm of Bizen ware itself. The clay body, crafted from carefully selected soil and glowing with reddish-purple hues, is further adorned with metallic glazes and sesame-seed ash, creating a landscape that possesses both the vibrancy and the understated elegance unique to unglazed pottery. The charming form, modeled after a golden winter melon and known as an "akoda" shape, is truly magnificent when observed closely—from the thickness of the neck to the slope of the body and the swell of the seams—filling one with a sense of awe at Master Isezaki’s brilliant craftsmanship. Signed wooden box (shiho-san) included
Rim 4.1cm x Body diameter 10.0cm x Body diameter 9.8cm x Height 12.0cm; Capacity 380cc Master Mitsuru Isezaki was born in 1934 as the eldest son of the holder of intangible cultural property Yozan Isezaki. He learned pottery techniques from his father from a young age and majored in sculpture at the special art department of Okayama University. As an authentic tea ceramicist, he pursued Momoyama-style forms, clay textures, and firing techniques. Depending on the work, he used either a climbing kiln or a medieval anagama kiln, adamantly refusing to use electric or gas kilns and insisting on firing with split pine wood. He became a regular member of the Japan Kōgei Association in 1964 and received the Toyo Kaneshige Prize in 1974. In 1994, he received the Sanyo Shimbun Cultural Merit Award, and in 1998, the 15th Tanabe Museum of Art Grand Prize. In March of that same year, he was designated as a Prefectural Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property. He passed away in August 2011 at the age of 77.
Awards: Toyo Kaneshige Prize, Okayama Prefecture Cultural Encouragement Award, Sanyo Shimbun Award, Okayama Nichinichi Shimbun Art and Culture Merit Award, Grand Prize at the Tea Ceremony Form Exhibition, and many others / Invited contributor to prefectural exhibitions