A large platter by Living National Treasure Shimaoka Tatsuzō, enclosed in its original signed wooden box titled Ji-yū Zōgan Jōmon Sara. The broad, gently rising dish is organized by a series of concentric iron-brown rings alternating with bands of creamy white glaze, creating a bold, almost hypnotic geometry across the surface. Between these rings, Shimaoka's characteristic rope-impressed jōmon zōgan decoration forms a remarkably fine herringbone-like pattern, the pale inlay settling into the rhythmic impressions of the clay. The disciplined circular design is softened by subtle irregularities in the hand-drawn lines and the warm reddish body revealed along the rim, giving the otherwise graphic composition a distinctly tactile character. The reverse is covered in a mottled grey-green glaze surrounding an exposed terracotta foot, with Shimaoka's impressed mark at the center. It measures 31 cm (12-1/4 inches) in diameter and 4.6 cm (1-3/4 inches) tall and is in perfect condition.
Shimaoka Tatsuzo (1919-2007) was born in Tokyo and enrolled in the Tokyo Kogei Daigaku Ceramics division in 1939. The following year he would meet Mashiko Mingei potter Hamada Shoji, and the course of his life was thought set, graduating in 1941. However, he was drafted in 1942, and sent to Burma where he would remain until repatriation after the cessation of hostilities. In 1946 Tatsuzo apprenticed under Hamada who encouraged him to find his own voice, which he did when in 1950 took part in research into ancient Jomon potteries with Shirasaki Shunji, which would have a profound influence on his style. Working with Jomon rope patterns, Tatsuzo set out to create a style unique to himself, establishing his own kiln in 1954. Widely exhibited, awarded and influential in his lifetime, he received the Japan Ceramic Society Gold award in 1994, one of the highest honors for a Japanese ceramic artist, and was designated a Living National Treasure (Juyo Mukei Bunkazai or Ningenkokuho) in 1996 culminating with receiving the Order of the Rising Sun in 1999.
