Triangular-Form Ash-Glazed Stoneware Vase by Shin ITO

A stoneware vase of tall, rounded-triangular section, standing on a broad triangular foot that tapers upward to a triangular mouth. The exterior is entirely covered in a coarse, heavily grogged ash glaze, pale gold-grey, densely speckled with light and dark mineral inclusions, giving a granular, stone-like surface. A dark, iron-bearing line is worked into the clay itself, forming a continuous, irregular rectangular meander that wraps the body in loose horizontal registers. The base is flat, with an incised signature near the edge. Comes with the original fitted wooden tomobako, titled kaimon kakki ("ash-pattern cornered vase"), signed and sealed by the artist.

ITO Shin was born in Chiba Prefecture in 1952 and is based in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture. He studied under fellow Mashiko artist KIKUCHI Akira. He is a member of Dentokogeikai (the traditional crafts guild) and has exhibited in the Japan Ceramics Exhibition since 1977.