Bizen ware flower vase with lug handles

This is a superb earlier Bizen ware flower vase by Kousuke Kaneshige, the leader of the Kaneshige family and son of the great Bizen ware restorer and Living National Treasure, Toyo Kaneshige. A pottery history document dating up to January 1985 is included, suggesting it was created around that time. It is a vase that displays a truly magnificent landscape, where an elegant gray ash-covered *yohen* (kiln change) meets striking patches of vibrant scarlet. The scarlet color, which attests to the quality of the clay, shifts in hue every few centimeters; although it is a vessel for displaying flowers, one finds themselves mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the surface itself. The skillful spatula work, which stands up to comparison with his latest pieces, gives the entire work a sense of vitality—particularly the "√"-shaped carving on the front, which varies in depth and possesses a fluid, flowing beauty. Signed wooden box (shiho-san style)
Diameter 18.3cm (including handles) × Diameter 15.0cm × Height 23.8cm Kousuke Kaneshige is the third son of Living National Treasure Toyo Kaneshige. He graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts with a degree in sculpture in 1968 and completed his postgraduate studies there in 1970. He began presenting ceramic works in 1975, and after serving as a lecturer at Tokai University, returned home in 1977. He built his own climbing kiln in 1982. He produces objects, tea utensils, flower vases, tableware, and sake vessels. In 1991, he created the ceramic mural "Light and Wind" for the Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance building in Okayama. He received the Japan Ceramic Society Award in 1994 and exhibited at the Bizen Ware Paris Exhibition in 1997. He has held solo exhibitions in Tokyo, Osaka, and elsewhere. In 2012, he was designated a holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Property by Okayama Prefecture.