An ink stone of celadon glazed ceramic by Aoki Mokubei enclosed in a wooden box annotated by Fukuda Kodojin. The ceramic grinding stone mirrors in its celadon the imported culture of China and Korea which many literati artists like Kodojin aspired to. It is 8.5 x 12 x 2 cm (3-1/2 x 5 x 1 inches) and is in excellent condition.
Aoki Mokubei (1767–1833) was one of the most influential ceramic artists, painters, and literati of late Edo-period Kyoto—a central figure in the flowering of bunjin (literati) culture in the Kansai region. Born Aoki Yūjiro in Kyoto, he initially trained as a painter under Ueda Kōchō and later under the great literati master Ike no Taiga (1723–1776), from whom he inherited a sensitivity to Chinese literati aesthetics and calligraphy. This grounding in Nanga painting profoundly shaped his later approach to ceramics, infusing his vessels with painterly spontaneity and poetic meaning. Mokubei is credited with transforming Kyoto ceramics through the fusion of Chinese literati ideals and Japanese craftsmanship. Around the turn of the 19th century, he studied Chinese ceramics and calligraphy from imported wares and texts, producing works in many styles, both domestic and continental. Aoki moved among Kyoto’s intellectual elite—poets, painters, and monks such as Tanomura Chikuden, Rai Sanyō, Urakami Gyokudō, and Tsubaki Chinzan. Mokubei’s studio name, Mokubei, derives from the Ming scholar-painter Dong Qichang (To Keicho), a deliberate act of self-identification with the Chinese literati lineage. In this sense, Mokubei stands at the intersection of art and philosophy, cultivating ceramics as a medium for scholarly expression rather than mere craft. His works—ranging from bold sencha teaware to painted plaques and vases—are today preserved in the collections of the Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Freer Gallery of Art, among others.
Fukuda Kodojin (1865-1944) was an eccentric self-taught artist, his status as a poet, calligrapher and literati artist has reached legendary status. Born at a time of great change (4 years before the final fall of the Edo Government), he lived through the westernization of Meiji, Taisho Democracy, the rise of Imperialism and final defeat of the Showa eras. He was part of a small group of artists existing outside conventional circles in pre-war Japan. He moved to a village outside of Kyoto in 1901, where he supported himself and his family by privately tutoring those who wished to learn Chinese-style poetry. Kodojin was simply a scholar. His poetry, painting, and calligraphy all stem from a life-long cultivation of the mind. He was said to have taken the time just before his death to destroy the large portion of his own remaining work, leaving only that which must have met some personal criteria. Kodōjin’s paintings and calligraphy survive mainly in private collections, but significant works can be found in the collections of the British Museum, Freer Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, Honolulu Museum of Art, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Museo Kaluz, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, Tanabe City Museum of Art and Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Art among others including such well known Private collections as the Cowles Collection, Hakutakuan Collection, Manyoan Collection and Welch Collection. Twenty five paintings by the artist formed a private exhibition (from the Gitter-Yelen collection) at the New Orleans Museum of Art in 2000. In recent years, exhibitions such as The Last Master of the Literati Tradition: Fukuda Kodōjin (Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2023) have brought renewed attention to his achievement. For more on his life see the book Old Taoist, or Unexplored Avenues of Japanese Painting.
