A museum quality kazari-bako glass box with gold and silver by important modern artist Fujita Kyohei enclosed in a wooden box titled Te-buki Jikiro, Kojo no Hana (blown glass box, Flowers on the lake) signed by his son Jun. It has a solid silver rim and is 19 cm wide, 15 cm tall in perfect condition.
Fujita Kyohei (1921-2004) was born in Tokyo and entered the Tokyo University of Fine Art studying metal craft, however changed his major midway, graduating the glass department in 1944. He took a place in the Iwata Glass studio under Iwata Toshichi in 1947. A pioneer of glassmaking, Fujita's art developed under the tutorship of Toshichi.In 1955 he established his own studio.He held his first of many solo exhibitions in 1957.He earned a reputation as a skilled artist thanks to a number of solo exhibitions in the 1960s. Along with Iwata Hisatoshi he was instrumental in establishing the Japan Glass Art-crafts Association in 1972. In 1974 his work would be shown at the Japanese National Glass Exhibition, and the next year in Denmark.Following that many of his works would debut overseas.In 1978 he would debut works made in Venice, and these along with the glass boxes, would become his life’s work.In 1981 he would go to Sweden to research crystal technique.In 1984 he would debut massive glass sculptures at his 25th solo exhibition held in the Flagship Nipponbashi Takashimaya.He would be awarded the Ministers prize at the 1986 National Modern Crafts Exhibition (Nihon Gendai Kogei Ten).In 1989 he would receive the Nihon Geijutsuin Prize (Japan Art Academy Award).In 1994 he would be awarded the imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure, and in 1997 the Order of Cultural Merit with Purple ribbon. Two years later he would receive the American Glass Art Society Lifetime Achievement Award.His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in the US and internationally, and his pieces are held in the collections of The Corning Museum of Glass, the Victoria and Albert Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, among others.The artist's legacy can be seen today in Miyagi, Japan, at the Kyohei Fujita Museum of Glass.
