Kanshitsu Chrysanthemum Bowl probably by Kiichiro MASUMURA

A deep confectionery bowl (kashiki) in kanshitsu (dry lacquer), formed as an open chrysanthemum flower. The rim is cut into twenty-four rounded petal lobes, and each lobe continues down the outer wall as a softly modelled vertical facet that gathers toward the base. The interior is finished in a bright vermilion lacquer and the exterior in a deeper, warmer red, both polished to a soft lustre. Underneath, a red foot ring frames a recessed field of glossy black lacquer. The bowl has no further ornament and relies on form and colour alone. It comes with its tomobako, inscribed on the lid Kanshitsu kikugata kashiki (dry-lacquer chrysanthemum-shaped confectionery bowl); the inside of the lid is signed Kiichiro and sealed.

MASUMURA Kiichiro was born in Tokyo in 1941 as the eldest son of MASUMURA Mashiki (1910–1996), a Living National Treasure for kyushitsu since 1978. Kiichiro completed the graduate course in lacquer at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1969 and stayed in its lacquer department for four decades, retiring as professor in 2009. At the Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition he received the Japan Kogei Association President's Prize in 1979, the Asahi Shimbun Prize in 1981 for a lobed vermilion kanshitsu bowl, and a prize selected by the Holders of Important Intangible Cultural Properties in 1989. In 1998 he made a reproduction of a lacquered-leather kesa box from the Shosoin treasury for the Imperial Household Agency. In 2002 he received the Medal with Purple Ribbon and became director of the University Art Museum. In 2008 he was designated Holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure) for kyushitsu, the art of lacquer coating, and in 2012 he was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure.

Compare: MASUMURA Kiichiro, Flower-shaped Bowls, Red and Black, kanshitsu, 1982, National Crafts Museum, Kanazawa (Lc0128)


Condition: Excellent; a few minute surface marks to the interior.