Bizen Yohen Ao Tokkuri

This is a blue Bizen kiln-altered sake bottle (tokkuri) 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 Baba's signature black Bizen and kiln-altered techniques, transformed into shades 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 blue, making it truly spectacular. The front displays a brilliantly clear ultramarine, while the "nuke" (open areas of the kiln-altered effect) reveal a gunmetal black, and the carbonized kiln-altered sections on the sides shimmer with a brilliant blue-silver. The unique property of black Bizen ware, where the colors become more vivid when wet, pairs perfectly with a sake bottle, allowing it to be "nurtured" and admired as you pour. Signed wooden box (lid with two crossbars)
Rim 4.0cm × Body diameter 8.3cm × Body diameter 8.1cm × Height 14.1cm Capacity approx. 330cc 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 major in sculpture during university to broaden his perspective on pottery. He graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts with a degree in sculpture in 2006 and further 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.