Large enameled Hekiyu porcelain vase by Yoshiro KIMURA

The finely ridged, globular body, supported on a short, broad foot and rising to a rounded mouth, covered overall in a rich, lustrous, finely crackled glaze with mottled streaks of varying shades of deep cobalt blue, save for the turquoise rim of the mouth and the recessed base enameled in emerald green, and marked underneath YOSHI (of Yoshiro).

With a wood tomobako signed: Kimura Yoshiro with the seal Yoshiro and inscribed: Hekiyu, odori-bera-mon, o-tsubo [azure blue green glaze, decorated with a rhythmical application of (under-glaze) design with a spatula, a large pot vase].

Yoshiro Kimura (b. 1946) is a renowned Japanese ceramic artist. Born in Ehime, he moved with his family to the Hiroshima area and, like many living near that area, he was profoundly influenced by the enduring atomic legacy. He graduated from Okayama Kogyo High School in 1970, after which he began to develop his signature blue hekiyu glaze, drawing inspiration from Middle Eastern ceramics. His mastery of this nuanced blue gradation is the result of decades of dedicated refinement and the forms he created, while rooted in Japanese tradition, are distinctly his own. From 1999 onwards his works have been featured in numerous exhibitions and included in many public collections, both in Japan and internationally, and he has been awarded with several distinctions to his exceptional career.

Auction comparison:
Compare a closely related porcelain vase from the Hekiyu Renmonko series, signed by Yoshiro Kimura, dated 2015, 22 cm high, at Piasa, Japanese Design, 1 December 2021, Paris, lot 130 (sold for EUR 5,850)