Page 129 - Sotheby's London Fine Japanese Art Nov. 2019

Bernard Leach, Yanagi Soetsu, Hamada Shoji, and Teamaster Sato at
Toyama, Japan, 1961.
BHL/6928; Image kindly provided by the Crafts Study Centre, Uni-
versity for the Creative Arts

The Mingei craftsmen relied on local materials
and techniques to preserve the cultural and
historical tradition of handmade crafts. A similar
movement was occurring first in Britain, leading
to the Arts and Crafts Movement, which later
flourished across the Euro-American regions.
Hamada was among the first craftsmen to be
designated a Ningen Kokuhō [Living National
Treasures] in 1955 and was appointed to the
Bunka Kunshō [Order of Cultural Merit] in 1978.
Widely recognised as one of the most influential
potters of the 20th century, Hamda continues
to inspire generations of potters and art lovers
and to make them re-think what it means to live
a “simple life”.
This group of eleven handmade dishes with
their earthy haptics and optics using local clay
individually decorated with different glazes
embodies Hamada’s philosophy of returning
to lifestyle essentials and living simply with the
earth.
For a similar example of a set of ash glazed
dishes see: The Museum of Oriental Ceramics,
Osaka, Hamada Shoji: The Horio Mikio Collection
in The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, (Osaka,
2012), p.53, pl. 56.
£ 8,000-10,000
€ 9,000-11,300 US$ 10,000-12,500

124

A SETO BOTTLE VASE
EDO PERIOD, 19 TH CENTURY
the bottle decorated in brown oxide with a
scrollwork design
39 cm., 153/8 in. high
For a similar example see, Chikuma Shobō,
Nihon-no-Mingei: Yanagi Soetsu to Teshigoto-
no-nihon wo tabi suru, (Tokyo, 2017).
‡ £ 15,000-20,000
€ 16,900-22,500 US$ 18,700-24,900

127