This vessel by Shingo Takeuchi is simply titled “sekki tsubo” which just translates roughly as stoneware vessel or vase. Most of the pieces I’ve handled by Takeuchi have been his colourful zogan inlay pots. But this tsubo is an example of Takeuchi’s work that leaves the surface undecorated: no glaze, no pigment, no inlay, no etching. Instead he lets his iron-rich stoneware speak for itself.

Tiny black and white inclusions - perhaps iron and feldspar - speckle the warm brown-grey clay, giving the surface a truly stone-like appearance. Takeuchi coil-forms his pots, then carves them into shape, allowing a complex geometry to weave and knot the surface.

At first glance there seems to be a logic to Takeuchi’s pattern, but when you try to trace its progression, your brain quickly gives up. There is a satisfying beauty to the unsolvable puzzle. With their non-reflective surfaces and unique sculptural forms, Takeuchi’s work has been described as particularly Zen. And his sekki forms are perhaps his most austere. Equally ancient and modern, they exist on their own plane.

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