Bizen-yaki teacup

This is a Bizen tea cup by the popular young artist Yoshiteru Kōriki, an inner disciple of the master Sozan Kaneshige. By using mountain clay as a base, this piece displays a matte-textured red clay finish distinct from Bizen rice-field clay. Its magnificent scarlet hue, as if the red earth found on cliffs had been transformed directly into a vessel, accentuates a wabi-sabi aesthetic even more pronounced than that of field clay. Depending on the exposure to fire, some areas show stronger yellowish or purplish tones, creating a subtle shifting beauty within its austere appearance that reveals different expressions with everyday use. Paper box
Diameter 7.8cm × Diameter 7.7cm × Height 8.7cm Yoshiteru Kōriki was born in Akō City, Hyogo Prefecture. Influenced by his pottery-loving father, he aspired to a career in ceramics. After graduating from high school in 1989, he apprenticed under the master Sozan Kaneshige and his son Yūhō Kaneshige to learn the craft. After seven years of training, he built a climbing kiln in Shizutani, Bizen City, in 1996 to establish his independence, and successfully fired his first kiln the following year. He held his first solo exhibition in Tokyo in 2000 and has held annual solo exhibitions ever since. In 1999, he was selected for the "Kita no Kashiki" (Tea Sweets Vessel) Exhibition, and in 2002, he was selected for the first time for the "Chanoyu no Zokei" (Forms of Tea Ceremony) Exhibition.