Kuroshuten

This is a newly fired black sake cup by Koichiro Isezaki, who was born as the eldest son of Living National Treasure Jun Isezaki and is breathing new life into the Bizen ware world with his extraordinary sense and skillful sculpting ability. By tearing a large clay sphere into two pieces and joining them together to form a sphere, he has skillfully incorporated the rugged "face of the clay" from the torn marks into the piece. The "goma" (ash glaze) is well-balanced across the rim and interior, creating a landscape that enhances the beauty of the form and the black color. While the firing resulted in a slightly glossy finish, the wrinkles of the hand-kneaded surface add a touch of wildness to the luxurious-looking black skin.

Read the blog post about "The Face of the Clay" Signed wooden box (shiho-san box)
Diameter 8.8cm × Diameter 8.7cm × Height 5.9cm Koichiro Isezaki was born as the eldest son of Living National Treasure Jun Isezaki. The Isezaki family is a prestigious Bizen ware lineage, with his grandfather being the intangible cultural property holder Yozan Isezaki and his uncle being the intangible cultural property holder Mitsuru Isezaki; he himself aspired to pottery from an early age. After graduating from the Department of Sculpture at Tokyo Zokei University in 1994, he studied abroad in the United States. He studied ceramics for about two years under Jeff Shapiro, a potter based in New York City, which greatly broadened his perspective on art and ceramics. After returning to Japan in 2000, he worked hard on his training under the guidance of his father's disciples. In 2002, he exhibited for the first time at the Tanabe Museum of Art Tea Ceremony Exhibition and was selected for the first time.