An early vase by Fujihira Shin dating from the 1960s decorated in raised relief with a crow enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Karasu Kabin. The form is elemental, with the opposing birds depicted in totemic style, a powerful combination. It is 11 x 12 x 29.8 cm (4-1/2 x 4-3/4 x 12 inches) and is in perfect condition.
Fujihira Shin (b. 1922-2012) was born into the family of a ceramics dealer in Kyoto, raised among the pots, and entered the ceramics department of the Kyoto Higher Technical School but was forced to withdraw in his second year losing four years of his life to battling illness. This life and death struggle would make him a strong character, proven thoroughly from then on in his works. In 1955, he began exhibiting at the Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition). The following year, he joined the Kyoto Ceramic Club led by Kiyomizu Rokubei VI and studied under him. He would come to the National Scene first upon receiving the Hokutosho prize at the Nitten National Exhibition in 1958 and in 1963, the prestigious Kikuka Prize. He continued to exhibit and gain recognition at Nitten thereafter. This brought him to the forefront of the ceramics scene. He was awarded the JCS (Japan Ceramic Society) award in 1973. During his career works by him were often selected to represent Japan and its arts overseas, in Europe, and the Americas. He was awarded the order of cultural merit in 1991 by Kyoto prefecture. In 1993 the Mainichi Ceramics Prize. In 1996 Kyoto prefectural order of cultural merit and in 1998 received the Japan Ceramic Society Gold Prize, one of the highest honors for a Japanese potter. Held in the collections of the V&A, National Museum in Warsaw, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo has more than a dozen pieces, only to be outdone by Kyoto which has more than 20 pieces. For more see “Japanese Ceramics Today Part 1” 2003.
