A fabulous large vessel for sake in ash-gray crawling glaze by Maruta Munehiko enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Karatsu Ido Guinomi. It is 8.5 x 5 cm (3-1/2 x 2 inches) and is in excellent condition.
Maruta Munehiko was born in Kuromuta, Saga Prefecture, as second son of noted Mingei potter Maruta Masami who had been a student of Living National Treasure Hamada Shoji. Maruta studied as well from 1980 under Shoji’s Grandson Atsuya, however after returning to Kyushu in 1984, Munehiko fell in love with the pottery of his region, Karatsu, and has mastered all styles of that diverse name, taking that tradition and making it his own. He opened his own kiln in Takeo in 1987, and in 2000 built his current kiln. A large jar by the artist is held in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
