A low, rounded vessel with a softly compressed body by Kako Katsumi enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Fukoku dating from 2024. Its surface carries a continuous arabesque vocabulary, the pattern flowing across the curvature in larger, breathing intervals. The motifs, suggestive of pointed leaves or flames, interlock seamlessly, their outlines incised with a fine, dark line that anchors the composition. The palette remains warm and earthen, with dominant iron reds interwoven with ochre yellows and muted greens. Inside, a deep black interior pools like lacquer, intensifying the contrast and drawing the eye inward. It is 26.8 x 22 x 31 cm (10-1/2 x 9 x 12-1/2 inches) and is in perfect condition, directly from the artist.
Kako Katsumi was born in Kyoto in 1965, and graduated the ceramics department of Saga Art College in 1986. He was selected for the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition and the Kyoten held at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art in 1988, followed in 1989 by the National Ceramic Art Exhibition and Mino International Ceramics Exhibition. He has since exhibited and or been selected/ awarded many times at these prestigious events. He established his kiln in Nishiwaki City in 1991. In 1994 he worked in Melbourne. Australia, and would create a second kiln in 2001. In 2004 he would be awarded the Prize of Excellence at the Tanabe Museum of Art Modern Tea Forms exhibition. In 2005 he established his current kiln in Sasayama, Hyogo prefecture. In 2009 he his work was featured at the Kikuchi Biennale Exhibition and the following year was awarded at the 4th Contemporary Tea Bowls Exhibition, and in 2011 was selected for the influential Paramita Ceramic Exhibition. 2013 saw him in New York, and 2014 at the Museum of Ceramic Art in Hyogo (Kobe). Held in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art among others.
