This white tea bowl dates from a 1991 show held at Toykyo’s Kandori Gallery, owned by the legendary Mme Kikuchi Tomo (1923 - 2016), of Musée Tomo fame. Shinobu Kawase’s career is closely linked to the Kandori, and, in many ways, Mme Kikuchi launched his career.

The simple and austere white and black chawan from this exhibit seem to be the first tea bowls Kawase produced. His own website illustrates no other tea bowls prior. They are an extreme departure from the classic Song-inspired shapes and celadon glazes with which he began his career.

From its onset, Kawase envisioned his career in four parts, inspired by the structure of Classical Chinese poetry: Introduction, Development, Turn, and Conclusion. The 1970’s and 1980’s saw him rigorously study and model his work on Song celadons. In the 1990’s, he moved those classic shapes towards organic and natural forms. He added other colours to his celadon during “Turn,” largely by firing in oxidation. Kawase has said he is now working in the Conclusion of his career, mixing classic with natural forms, while still using a variety of colours.

Within this context, this white chawan perhaps represents the shift away from the restrained and elegant celadons of his early career. Like a creative palette cleanser, these bowls helped him move into his next phase. Kawase wrote a poem to accompany this series:

Engaging with something
that is entirely contrasting,
I want to test my heart.
At times
I feel the essence of nonattachment,
as the stirrings of my heart
move freely.

Organic and natural, this chawan fits perfectly in the hand. Without a foot, it sits on the three lobes that form its bottom. The rim undulates in gentle swells like water or rolling hills. And the warm clay body contrasts with the purest white Fukushima feldspar. It is like a seedpod or husk, fallen to the ground, covered in snow, waiting for spring.

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