Painted Bizen Sake Cup

This is a colored Bizen sake cup by Anjin Abe, a master with deep insight into ancient pottery and a refined aesthetic sense, who creates one-of-a-kind works through his unique research and firing techniques. The front features a colored design framed like a window, with a colored Mount Fuji motif set into the Bizen sake cup like a framed painting. The sophisticated reddish-purple earthy texture combined with the thickly melted yellow ash glaze perfectly complements the colored section, completing a magnificent piece of "Anjin Bizen." It possesses a unique worldview born from the resonance between painting and Bizen ware, offering a drinking experience that functions like a painting—a delight that cannot be found elsewhere. Signed wooden box (shiho-san, double box)
Diameter 6.6cm x Diameter 6.0cm x Height 6.2cm Anjin Abe was originally a Western-style painter. While collecting pottery as a hobby, he felt a lack in contemporary Bizen ware and began his pottery career in 1972 to create pieces that satisfied him. He frequently produces water jars, flower vases, flat flasks, bowls, sake bottles, and sake cups, all formed on a wheel and finished with a spatula. He bases his pottery on Momoyama-period ancient Bizen and is meticulous about his firing techniques. He also engages in diverse expressive activities, presenting mixed-media works that combine various materials and techniques such as ceramics, lacquer, oil painting, and bronze. He energetically holds solo exhibitions both in Japan and internationally, in cities including Tokyo, Osaka, New York, and Paris.