A bottomless green pool by master of Seihakuji Kato Tsubusa enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled simply Wan. A big telltale tear drop reaches down to grasp the table, exquisite. It is 5-1/2 inches (14 cm) diameter and in excellent condition.
Kato Tsubusa was born in Tajimi city, the home of Shino, in 1962, graduating the municipal Pottery Design and Technical Center in 1979...

Early 20th C Japanese glazed porcelain figure of a puppy, most likely an akita. The puppy is wearing a ruffled collar with bells. If you hold this piece under a bright light, you can see some surface crazing that occurred after firing during the cooling process, which attests to its age. In excellent condition, it measures 5.5" high, 3.5" wide, 4.5" deep.

A traditionally crafted Bizen sake cup with a rich mineral glaze giving this guinomi a metallic look. The craftsman who made this piece, Takahiro Ishii, was born in Tokyo in 1977, and, after studying ceramics for a number of years, he moved to Bizen to become a ceramics teacher and later opened his own kiln. He takes a philosophic approach to his work as evidenced by the following quote, “As a ceramicist, I feel that the point is not just to produce pieces...

A fabulous thin walled Bizen basin made for use as a fresh water container for the Japanese Tea Ceremony with black lacquered wooden lid enclosed in the original signed wooden box by Living National Treasure Yamamoto Toshu. This burnished style reminiscent of sangiri techniques is the signature work of this important Bizen artist. Here a plethora of colors vie for dominance on the ordinarily sedate brown clay. It is 22 cm diameter, 13 cm tall and in excellent condition...

A large and important work by Miyanaga Kozan of overall raw clay in a Nanban style with drips of color featuring a tiny colorful crab crawling out of a hollow in the base. It is 30.5 cm (12 inches) tall and in excellent condition, in an age darkened wooden collectors box titled Makuzu Yaki Kabin, Miyagwa Kozan Sei followed by a very large stamp...

A most unusual tea bowl charred black on one side which emenates a golden glow on the raw earth opposite, by Bizen living national Treasure Yamamoto Toshu enclosed in the original signed double wood storage box titled Bizen Yohen Chawan (Kiln Altered Tea bowl) with silk wrapping cloth. The beauty of kiln altered works is that they are quite often entirely unique...

A petaled vase in snow s\white porcelain with silver blossoming from the rim by Itaya Narumi enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 12.5 cm (5 inches) diameter and in excellent condition, from the artist this year. Itaya Narumi was born in Gifu in 1991, and graduated the Toki City Ceramics Research Facility in 2015. She has participated in several exhibitions since, with an emphasis on natural forms and tactile senses.

Pale jade spots dot the incised surface of this unusual vase by Nagae Shigekazu enclosed in the original signed wooden box retaining the Shiori and Shifuku. The vase, if not for its distant, moon-like quality, has a very pop-art-presence, blending both the austerity of Japanese traditional aesthetics with contemporary art. Fun and moving; a haunting pleasure. It is 14 inches (35.5 cm) tall, 5 inches (13 cm) square at the base, 7 inches (19 cm) wide at the rim and in excellent condition...

A tripod koro with custom silver lid and rosewood stand by Miura Chikusen II enclosed in a wooden box dated early Autumn 1920 signed by Ume, the mother of the second generation head of the family who died young that year. The white porcelain is roughly 15 cm (6 inches) tall on the stand, 10 cm (4 inches) diameter. This type of Sinophile work was very popular throughout the Meiji and Taisho periods, and Sencha steeped tea had a profound impact on Japanese culture at the time...

Sturdy storage jar for tea leaves or other goods with horizontally ribbed surface, sloping shoulder with very short neck. Coarse but dense clay with small inclusions. Outside middle brown with cream-colored and yellow natural ash glaze. Mingei.
Japan, 18th/19th century.

Height 7.5 inches, width 6 inches at the neck. Ash glaze partially rubbed off at upper edge and at the body commensurate with holding and using, otherwise very good condition.

Described on the wood box as a tokkuri (sake flask) with kin-kousai (metallic Iris) glaze, the size and form would allow this piece to function just as well as a small flower vase...

A high quality Arita porcelain dish decorated with an auspicious pattern composed of a central motif made up of three shippo or cash symbols bound together by a stylised Peony leaf vine; a variant of the more usual ribbon tied cash see EW3193. The cavetto decorated with a Tako-karakusa ground and the rim with a diaper band. The reverse is meticulously painted with a band of stylised lotus pattern to the base of the footrim...

An unusual Arita dish with an out-turned rim decorated in a greyish toned under-glaze blue with a Chinese Export Qianlong “Chinoiserie” style pattern featuring a conventionalised landscape of Pagoda and Islands surrounded by two bands of diaper containing four floral sprigs, Peonies and Chrysanthemums...

An unusual Arita dish of typical scalloped rinka form decorated with a variant of the so-called “Sweet Pea” pattern. A Chinese export pattern largely produced for the South East Asian Market and in particular for Chinese communities living there. This dish was probably made for the Japanese domestic market as a novelty, or it may possibly have been made for the Asian export Market. The elaborate vine arabesque is painted in pencilled style. The reverse is decorated with stylised sprigs...

Heavy, cream colored stoneware oil plate (aburazara) shaped as a lotus leaf with curled up, irregular edge. Surface on ‘inside’ structured with cloth, decorated with geometric figures in iron brown glaze and covered with feldspar and typical Oribe green glaze.
Impressed maker’s mark in bottom: Jocho? tsukuru.
Japan, Seto region, Oribe, Meiji era, ca. 1900. Diam 7.25 x H 0.8 inches

2 old small chips and some frittings on rim, consistent with age and use

A beautifully crafted vase from a studio potter in the hills of Iga, a few hours drive east of Kyoto. Iga-ware has quite a long history—by some accounts dating back to the 7th and 8th century—with the major kilns being established some time around the end of the 16th century. Similar in many ways to Shigaraki pottery, the glaze is the result of kiln ash being vitrified and melted on to the surface of the clay body at extremely high temperatures during firing, which can last many days...

Beautiful lobed Kutani yaki dish in Yoshidaya style, modern. Decoration of camellia in white, aubergine, green, speckled yellow and gilt. The back with a character in gilt, possibly Qiu, meaning Autumn. It is also defined by Graesse in his classical work about pottery and porcelain marks as from the village of Shinomine in Arita. Diameter "6 ¼ / 16 cm, height "1 ¼ / 3 cm. Condition: fine.

Japanese Satsuma Vase with Flower Marked "Kinkozan", circa 1920

It is 7.5 inches (19.1 cm) tall by 5.3 inches (13.5 cm) wide...