There is something about a shino glaze and the way it almost mutes the shape it covers. Like snow covering a landscape, you can see a softened form of what lies beneath. Ken Matsuzaki threw this vase quite loosely - with angled turn lines and a sloping shoulder - before he added strokes of iron oxide stain. He then added a coat of quintessential shino glaze: it drips and crawls nicely, with “orange peel” pitting where thinner.

Matsuzaki squared the shape just slightly, most noticeably in the mouth. Asymmetric lugs - or mimi in Japanese - finish the form and connect the sloping neck to the vase’s shoulder. The overall impression is of a vase with “suggested” parts: they are indistinct but identifiable, almost shorthand versions of themselves. The quick and effortless gestures with which Matsuzaki throws keeps the energy of the pot’s making.

Born in 1950, Ken Matsuzaki comes from a family of Tokyo artists. After studying ceramics at university, at the age of 22, he apprenticed with the great potter Shimaoka Tatsuzō in Mashiko. Since then Matsuzaki has since established himself there as the preeminent potter of the region. He specializes in wood-fired, mingei-inspired wares that often feature oribe, shino,  iron-ground, and natural ash glazes.

Comes with the signed, stamped, and titled wood box, and CV.