Bizen Yohen Sake Bottle

A new Bizen sake bottle by the popular young artist Yoshiteru Koriki, an inner-circle apprentice of the master Sozan Kaneshige. This is a magnificent sake bottle where superb firing and a refined clay quality coexist—a piece so rare that only a few are produced among the hundreds fired in a single kiln. A wet-looking grey ash glaze is overlaid with dull, lead-colored scorch marks, and when held up to the light, you can fully appreciate its unique metallic hue. The "nuke" (clear areas) are truly stunning, revealing a pale orange clay quality within perfectly defined outlines that will impress any sake ware collector. This Bizen yohen (kiln-change) piece is beautiful to behold, a joy to use, and rewarding to "nurture" over time. It is a crystallization of the artist's efforts to honor his master's teachings through a rigorous commitment to clay and relentless research with every firing; though light and easy to handle, it possesses a substantial presence. Signed wooden box (shiho-san style)
Rim 3.6cm × Body diameter 9.7cm × Body diameter 9.5cm × Height 14.3cm, Capacity 450cc Yoshiteru Koriki was born in Ako City, Hyogo Prefecture. Inspired by his pottery-loving father to pursue the path of ceramics, he began studying under the master Sozan Kaneshige and his son Yuho Kaneshige after graduating high school in 1989. Following seven years of training, he built his own climbing kiln in Shizutani, Bizen City, in 1996 to strike out on his own, and successfully fired his first kiln the following year. He held his first solo exhibition in Tokyo in 2000 and has continued to hold them annually ever since. In 1999, his work was selected for the "Exhibition of Confectionery Ware I'd Like to Use," and in 2002, he was selected for the "Tea Ceremony Forms Exhibition" for the first time.