Bizen Tokkuri

This Bizen sake bottle is by the master craftsman Mitsuru Isezaki, who loved Bizen ware and made significant contributions to the region. It includes a biography dated around the year 2000, suggesting the piece was created during that period. The firing is an exemplar of Bizen climbing kiln techniques, with sesame-seed (goma) glaze and sangiri coloring enveloping the entire piece. These blend with the subtle golden hues of the clay body in the fire-touched areas, creating a work packed with the profound, mysterious landscapes that represent the true charm of climbing kiln firing. The form—possessing a refined, voluminous quality seen in classic Bizen "imo" (potato-shaped) bottles—reflects the style of Isezaki, who spent his life adoring ancient Bizen ware and studying the techniques of his predecessors; it is a piece one can gaze upon indefinitely without tiring. The underside of the foot is intensely coated in golden hues, resembling metal, revealing a special scene that can only be viewed after the sake has been finished. Signed wooden box (shiho-zan style)
Rim 3.8cm × Body diameter 9.6cm × Body diameter 9.6cm × Height 14.6cm; Capacity 530cc Mitsuru Isezaki was born in 1934 as the eldest son of the Intangible Cultural Property holder Yozan Isezaki. He learned ceramic techniques from his father from a young age and majored in sculpture at Okayama University's Special Art Course. As an authentic practitioner of tea ceramics, he pursued the forms, clay textures, and firing methods of the Momoyama period. He alternated between climbing kilns and medieval-style anagama kilns depending on the work, strictly avoiding electric or gas kilns in favor of firing with split pine wood. He became a full member of the Japan Kōgei Association in 1964 and received the Kaneshige Tōyō Prize in 1974. In 1994, he received the Sanyo Shimbun Cultural Merit Award, and in 1998, he won the 15th Tanabe Museum of Art Grand Prize. In March of that same year, he was designated as a holder of an Okayama Prefectural Intangible Cultural Property. He passed away in August 2011 at the age of 77.
Awards: Numerous, including the Kaneshige Tōyō Prize, Okayama Prefecture Cultural Encouragement Award, Sanyo Shimbun Award, Okayama Nichinichi Shimbun Art and Culture Merit Award, and the Grand Prize at the Tea Ceremony Form Exhibition; also a guest exhibitor at the Prefectural Exhibition.