Bizen ware cup

This is a Bizen sake cup by the master craftsman Mitsuru Isezaki, a man who loved Bizen ware and made immense contributions to the region. Among the various sake vessels created by Isezaki, this flat sake cup (hirahai) is a relatively rare form. It is a slightly smaller, elegantly usable piece that I would also recommend for women. The "hi-iro" (scarlet color) born from his carefully selected clay is truly spectacular; the combination of the deep black appearing strongly at the rim and the particularly vivid band of scarlet running through the body is nothing short of magnificent. While it is an unadorned piece befitting a master, its aura of refinement is undeniably authentic. Signed wooden box (lid with two cross-pieces)
Diameter 7.3cm x Diameter 7.3cm x Height 3.0cm Mitsuru Isezaki was born in 1934 as the eldest son of the holder of intangible cultural property, Yozan Isezaki. He learned pottery techniques from his father from an early age and majored in sculpture at the special art course of Okayama University. A purist of tea ceremony ceramics, he pursued the forms, clay quality, and firing techniques of the Momoyama period. He alternated between climbing kilns and medieval-style anagama kilns depending on the piece, eschewing electric or gas kilns in favor of firing exclusively with split pine wood. He became a full member of the Japan Kōgei Association in 1964 and received the Kaneshige Tōyō Prize in 1974. He was awarded the Sanyo Shimbun Cultural Merit Award in 1994 and the 15th Tanabe Museum of Art Grand Prize in 1998. In March of that same year, he was designated as a holder of Okayama Prefecture’s Important Intangible Cultural Property. He passed away in August 2011 at the age of 77.
Awards: Kaneshige Tōyō Prize, Okayama Prefecture Cultural Encouragement Award, Sanyo Shimbun Award, Okayama Nichinichi Shimbun Art and Culture Merit Award, Tea Ceremony Art Exhibition Grand Prize, and many others / Prefectural Exhibition Judge