Three various shapes in three different woods by Kawakita Hirohiko, an artist known for his ability to pull the very best of the wood grain to the surface of his works. Here is a wide cup of Horse Chestnut (Tocchi) with two close bands of zig-zagging metal belting the center and a lively tiger-eye pattern in the wood. Beside that is a tall thinner cup of Zelkova (Keyaki), a highly prized hardwood from the elm family, with three bands of metal inlayed among ever-so-slightly sculpted facets. The third is a smaller stem-footed wine cup of Cherry (Sakura) with a single band inlayed close to the rim. Each is covered outside in clear lacquer. The larger cups are covered inside with tame-nuri soft burgundy lacquer, the wine cup is, on the other hand, gilded in gold inside, in turn covered in a nearly opaque red, a style called byakudan-nuri. All three are signed on the base with the artists yaki-in brand. The Wide cup is 9 cm diameter 10.5 cm tall, the Thinner Keyaki cup is 8 cm diameter, 13 cm tall, and the wine cup is 7.5 cm diameter, 9 cm tall. All are in excellent condition.
Kawakita Hirohiko was born the son of future Living National Treasure for Woodwork Kawakita Ryozo in 1962. He has exhibited with and has been awarded several times at the National Traditional Crafts Exhibition (Nihon Dento Kogeiten), the Ishikawa Prefectural Traditional Crafts exhibition (Ishikawa Dento Kogeiten), Traditional Bamboo and Wood Craft Exhibition (Dento Kogei MokuchikuTen), Ishikawa International Lacquer Exhibition 2005 and Kenrokuen Daichakai Komakuten among many others.
