Bizen Sake Cup

This is a new Bizen sake cup by the prodigious talent Juroku Harada, who was described as a "frighteningly gifted" artist after studying old Bizen pottery alongside the legendary Bizen scholar Matazaburo Katsura. Though smaller in size than his usual works, it is an impactful piece featuring an intense, light-blue glass-like kiln transformation. Within that dramatic change, the reddish "nuke" (unfired area) on the front serves as an excellent accent, and the soft texture of the clay promises a pleasant tactile experience with use. The characteristic roughly carved base, paired with a carefully crafted warikodai (split foot), makes for a truly wonderful piece. Signed wooden box (shiho-san style)
Diameter 5.7cm x Diameter 5.8cm x Height 4.7cm After graduating from Meiji University, Juroku Harada worked at a company before beginning his pottery career in 1969. He built an ana-gama kiln in 1971 and a climbing kiln the following year to dedicate himself fully to ceramics. Beginning in 1975, under the guidance of Bizen scholar Matazaburo Katsura, he visited ancient kiln sites to study old Bizen. In 1991, he built an ana-gama kiln in Amidayama, Ushimado. He produces jars, tea ceremony utensils, and leaf-shaped dishes, primarily using the coiling method, sometimes incorporating the potter's wheel. He has held active solo exhibitions in Tokyo, Osaka, and elsewhere. In 1983, he held a two-person exhibition at the National Museum of Ethnology in Australia with Kenji Funaki of Fushina ware. He received the Japan Ceramic Society Award in 2000. His work was exhibited and acquired for the opening commemorative exhibition of the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu in 2002, and was acquired by the New Orleans Museum of Art in 2005.