Bizen Youhen Ao Guinomi

This is a Bizen kiln-transmutation blue sake cup by Takashi Baba, an artist born in Imbe who has loved Bizen ware since childhood and finds his life's joy in creating works and firing kilns. This ambitious piece is a fusion of the black Bizen and kiln-transmutation techniques in which Mr. Baba excels, transformed into a shade of blue, with a deep ultramarine surface covering almost the entire piece. The exquisite gradation, impossible to achieve by human hands alone, is created by the kiln's flames transforming the black slip into a blue hue, making it a sight to behold. The front displays a remarkably clear ultramarine, while the parts corresponding to what is known as "nuke" (gaps) in kiln-transmutation have turned a gunmetal black, and the carbonized kiln-transmutation areas on the sides exhibit a shining blue-silver luster. The interior also features a complex mix of deep blue and metallic black, allowing you to enjoy the ever-changing interplay of blue and black painted by the flames as they reflect in your sake. Signed wooden box (shiho-san)
Diameter 6.9cm x Diameter 6.8cm x Height 5.8cm Takashi Baba was born in 1983 as the eldest son of Bizen ware artist Shosuke Baba. Thinking from a young age that he would become a ceramic artist, he chose to study sculpture in university to broaden his perspective on ceramics. He graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts Department of Sculpture in 2006 and honed his skills at the Kyoto Municipal Institute of Industrial Technology and Culture. He became independent in 2007 and held his first solo exhibition. He is currently active mainly through solo exhibitions at department stores.