Bizen Ware Mortar-Style Sake Cup

This is a Bizen mortar-style sake cup from Yoshinobu Morimoto's new exhibition. It is part of a series inspired by the Muromachi period, when Bizen ware swept across Japan as everyday miscellaneous goods, captivating people with a powerful worldview that prioritizes practicality. Reflecting the characteristics of that era, the production technique involves stacking coils of clay and joining them on a potter's wheel, leaving the wheel marks and seams intact to create a simple, unadorned, and rustic form. Regarding the firing process, the artist intentionally sets aside any concern for specific "scenery" (keshiki), stacking the pieces haphazardly to be fired just as they would have been in the historical context of that time. As a result, the finish is an understated, earthy texture that highlights the quality of the clay, offering a calm aesthetic that was praised by Wabi-cha practitioners as "chilled and withered." Signed wooden box (shiho-san) included
Diameter 8.8cm × 8.3cm × Height 4.5cm

About the Yoshinobu Morimoto New Works Exhibition Yoshinobu Morimoto was born in Okayama Prefecture in 1976. He completed his studies at the Bizen Pottery Center in 1996. After working independently, he held his first solo exhibition in Tokyo in 2004. Since then, he has held solo exhibitions annually, primarily in Tokyo and throughout Japan. He was selected for the Tanabe Museum of Art's "Tea Ceremony Modeling Exhibition" in 2005, 2006, and 2007. In 2008, he exhibited at the "Contemporary Artist Sake Cup Exhibition" at Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, Tokyo. In 2009, he exhibited at the "Contemporary Artist Tea Bowl Exhibition" at Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, Tokyo. He continues to hold solo exhibitions in various locations, such as the "Yoshinobu Morimoto Special Feature" at Tenmaya, Okayama, in 2010.