Masayuki Uraguchi’s explorations with celadon began with classic blue-green seiji and blue-white seihakuji on porcelain clay bodies. The inspirations were Song dynasty celadons in the Tokyo National Museum that captivated Uraguchi when he was an art student.

One of the most difficult kinds of ware to master, Uraguchi, over time, methodically explored the possibilities of celadon. Experimenting with different clay bodies and glaze colours, the tones Uraguchi has achieved over the years include greens, greys, browns, blues, and, as with this large bowl, blacks and purple.

The dark colour of the crazing in this bowl likely comes from the near-black, iron-rich stoneware clay body. And in between the cracks, there are soft blues and greens. Adding further tones to his surfaces, Uraguchi has continued the Chinese practice of highlighting the glaze’s crackle with India ink. But with this bowl, he also added red highlights, likely with bengara, the iron pigment that gives red lacquer its colour. The end result, with the very wide variety of tones, is completely original.

Aside from the distinctive glaze, perhaps this bowl’s most outstanding quality is the shape. Its rim undulates in six peaks: a triangle of 3 high peaks overlaid another triangle of 3 lower peaks. While most definitely inspired by the shape of a flower, the rhythm and movement of the rim also suggest the rolling waves on the surface of the Pacific nearby.

Comes with the signed, stamped, and titled wood box, and stamped wrapping cloth.