Bizen-yaki teacup

This is a new Bizen tea cup by Jumpei Kaneshige, the eldest son of Kosuke Kaneshige, a leading master of the Kaneshige family. Rather than forcefully asserting a strong personality, this wonderful tea cup offers a leisurely pleasure through its soft sesame glaze and the subtle variations in the clay across its surface. In terms of its construction, the artist avoids any harsh treatment of the clay, instead imbuing the form with just a touch of "individuality" while allowing the clay to stretch naturally on the potter's wheel. It is not a piece that evokes the raging fires of a kiln, but rather one that feels as though it were gently cradled in a soft bed of earth. It is a work that reminds one of the vital labor that takes place before the wheel is spun and the kiln is fired. Signed wooden box (double-slatted)
Diameter 7.4cm × Diameter 7.3cm × Height 7.5cm Jumpei Kaneshige was born in Komaba, Tokyo, in 1972 as the eldest son of Kosuke Kaneshige. He graduated from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Waseda University in 1994. In 2000, he completed a graduate program in sculpture at Long Island University in New York, and after returning to Japan, he studied under his father, Kosuke Kaneshige.