Bizen ware teacup

This Bizen tea cup is by Masamine Kakurezaki, an artist who blazed his own trail after being mentored by the masters of modern ceramics. It is a piece that features the quintessential Bizen landscape of refined shiso-red hues blended with sangiri markings. The artist has been meticulous not only in the sangiri firing technique but also in the color palette and composition. Starting with the character for spring, the heavy sangiri shifts into a shiso-red hue; passing through summer, represented by the pure shiso-red, one arrives at autumn, where the sangiri at the base signals the approach of winter; finally, winter is depicted as a landscape of black sangiri, brilliantly capturing the transition of the four seasons through fire. Signed wooden box (shiho-san style)
Diameter 7.8cm × Diameter 7.7cm × Height 7.9cm Masamine Kakurezaki began his artistic journey studying maki-e lacquerware under Jinsai Namba at the Okayama Prefectural Kogei School (now Okayama Technical High School) starting in 1935. After the war, inspired by the style of Toyo Kaneshige, he received guidance on crafting hobin teapots, which led him into the world of ceramics. He also studied under Toshu Yamamoto. Breaking free from the traditional boundaries of Bizen ware, he created a diverse range of expressions, including "E-Bizen" and "Gold-Leaf Bizen" utilizing maki-e techniques, "Jomon Bizen" with rope patterns on non-kiln-altered red clay, "Oni Bizen" with dramatic kiln-altered effects, and works with the texture of Sueki pottery. He became a full member of the Japan Kōgei Association in 1969 and was designated as a Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property of Okayama Prefecture in 1980. In 1997, his work was exhibited at the Bizen Ware Paris Exhibition. He was also an enthusiast of painting, calligraphy, and tanka poetry, having published four collections of his poems. Kazan Matsuda was his brother-in-law.
Awards: Recipient of numerous awards, including the Toyo Kaneshige Prize, Sanyo Shimbun Prize, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Encouragement Prize, Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Rays, Okayama Prefecture Cultural Prize, and the Miki Memorial Prize; Jury member for the prefectural exhibition.